Silver Griffin: The Rise of a New Guild
by Raiyane
Summary: No longer accepting OCs. Silver Griffin is a newer mage's guild of Fiore located in the southern town of Nadeshiko. As the dark guild, Banshee Tear, is on the rise, Silver Griffin will have to work with Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, Mermaid Heel and Saber Tooth to defeat them! Many pairings.
1. Prologue xIntroduction Arc

**Author's Note: **Hi. I don't know how well a fanfic like this is going to go over, but I decided to give it a try. So... This is an original guild Fairy Tail fic.

And I know I spelled Griffin wrong when I uploaded it. I've seen spelling variations of it and the site that I was looking at spelled it with an "O" instead of a second "I". My deepest apologies.

This takes place about a year and a half after the Grand Magic Games arc. Fairy Tail is the strongest guild in Fiore with Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, Mermaid Heel and Saber Tooth not too far behind them. Saber Tooth has been reformed and Orga is the current Guild Master. So, Silver Griffin will be working with these guilds sometimes, and the members of Silver Griffin can be friends and acquaintances of members of these guilds. I've noticed with some of the histories of the OCs that I've been getting, the time events are messed up, as in the 7 year time skip is not accounted for. This is something that I'm not actually sure about fixing. I do believe the histories of the OCs will be slightly modified to fit the time better.

In terms of Zeref and all of that, this is either AU or he's disappeared again. I'm not sure, or if it will ever arise for me to have to choose what to do.

Anyhow... Silver Griffin is a newer mages' guild in Fiore, still run by its first master, albeit she is starting to reach her old age. The guild is finally on the rise and starting to become known to the other guilds.

Though there will be lots of small missions, fun stuff, and romance-if pairings are created, there is going to be one big enemy in this fic, which will be a dark guild known at Banshee Tear. I don't want to spoil anything by revealing any of their goals, but you can make characters for this guild, too. Though they will be evil, and will be beaten, unless they have a change of heart.

So, all in all, this is going to be a random fic focusing on Silver Griffin and its members. It will end once the battle with Banshee Tear is over and if it goes over well, there will be a sequel, maybe... If I'm not lazy.

I am no longer accepting OCs for this fic. I've got plenty! Thank you all very much. A cast of characters will be placed in the next chapter when I think I've gotten everything sorted out. I will open OC submission again towards the end of the fic when I need enemy character for Banshee Tear. Just a note, there are quite a few dragon slayers in this fic, but they work. Also, if you submitted an OC that is supposed to be paired with a canon character, then the pairing may not develop as fast and they won't get to see their sweetie a lot. ^^;

Feel free to suggest missions, plot stuff, or any of that. Feel free to give me whatever kind of review you like.

Last note... The guild mark for Silver Griffon is a talon wrapped in a wing. I would draw it, but I can't... I'm sorry. ;A; And for Banshee Tear, it's a running tear that curves into half of a heart.

* * *

**PROLOGUE**

_Welcome to Nadeshiko Town, located in southern Fiore. Nadeshiko is a inland town, though the harbor and the neighboring town of Lotus is not far away. Nadeshiko is a nature-filled town with many parks and small houses, apart from one street where a few apartment complexes are located. It is surrounded by some forest to the north, and bordered by other lands and cities to the east and west. One may take a train to Magnolia, though it is a trip that will take a few days._

_Silver Griffin is the only guild of Nadeshiko, located just on the western border of the town. The guild's building of operations consists of three floor, the first floor is where the request board is located. It has S rank missions on it, but one must okay every mission they take with the guild master or her sister, so it is not possible for lower ranked mages to take the missions. There are a few tables where the mages can sit and have a drink or a meal, as well as a large lounge area with many sofas and small tables to put drinks on. There is usually a mage or two passed out on a sofa at any given time. The other two floors contain many bedrooms that function as hotel rooms. Clients that come to speak with mages before hiring them may stay in the rooms, and mages who find themselves homeless may seek shelter in a room for a month or so. The third floor also contains a larger room with a bathroom and kitchen where the guild master and her sister stay. _

_The guild hall is set up similar to to an old styled mansion, pointed, black roofs. The inside has dark wooden floors and furniture with red and white accents. The first floor is lit by hanging chandeliers while each bedroom in the second and third floor have a small chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling. _

_The guild is run by a woman named Winter Esmera. She is an older woman, probably going into her sixties now. She founded the guild along with her younger sister Crystal Esmera when she was nineteen. Both she and Crystal use Snowflake-make magic that fights with sparkling white crystals. They can also cause it to snow, if they choose. _

_Winter is old enough to have a great many wrinkles on her face. She has pale skin and pale blue eyes with slightly thickened brows over them. She has a rounded, but large nose and a warm smile. Her hair is snow white, though it was once pale blue. She keeps is in one braid down her back with a few snowflake clips in her hair. She dresses in a white dress with a dark blue clothe thrown over her shoulders. She also wears white gloves and white heels, and walks with a dark blue cane. _

_Crytal is three years younger than Winter. She looks similar to Winter, but her eyes are dark blue and her nose is more pointed. She also doesn't smile quite as often as her sibling. Her hair is short and usually covered in a light blue knit cap. She wears a dark blue dress and a light blue coat with fluffy white fur on the inside. The coat cover her dark blue slip-on shoes and light blue gloved hands. _

_Winter is a nice guild master who is loving to all of her guild members. She refers to all of them as her children and treasures them. When a guild member dies, she hides away in her room for a week or more and Crystal takes over the guild. _

_The members of the guild are allowed to form their own teams or work alone. The only time Winter calls for making the teams herself is when a big opponent arises and she wants to avoid loss as much as possible._

_Silver Griffin is becoming more known to Fiore, so what will become of the quickly growing guild?_

* * *

**Author's Note: **The next chapter is going to be started in the next day or so and it will take me a day or so to write.

Thanks for reading!

I'm such an idiot. X_X Sorry guys! X_X


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Thank all of you so much for the submission of the characters! I really liked all of them, though there were some history problems with some of them. A few of the characters' histories didn't seem to take in account the 7 year time skip on Tenroujima. So... I'll have to make that work somehow. I tried to think of a way to make this AU and edit out the timeskip, but that would mess up a lot of things, unless I pushed back Sting and Rogue being born and make Saber Tooth rise at the same time as Fairy Tail. Then again, that would also mess up their background, so I dunno. ;A; It will work.

I will let everyone know that there are a quite a few characters with really power magic like Dragon and God Slayer magic, but it was all well executed. Also, Winter sort of sees Silver Griffin as a place for those that don't always belong and will often times call it her "Haven", so it's okay to have some overpowered and lost magics. Besides, this isn't focusing on everyone in Silver Griffin but instead the strongest ones, sort of like the real anime does anyway.

Not every OC will be introduced in this chapter. I have over 20 characters to introduce, and if I were to introduce them all in one chapter, it would be rushed, crowded and awful. It will take me 2 to 5 chapters to finish introduction stuff. It may also take me a bit to get the feel of every OC. Feel free to review and tell me if I've gotten something completely off, though.

Some things to note.

-My updates will be sporadic. Right now, I'm on summer vacation from my university and am failing at finding a job, so I have lots of free time and will update a lot as long as I have ideas. However, I go back to college August sixteenth and will be moving and all so I will vanish. There will be moments when I don't have lots of homework when I will be able to write, and I'll push updates out, but then there will be moments like midterms and finals where I will forget the meaning of "free time" and "leisure" and I will vanish.

-I normally respond to reviews in the author's note of the next chapter.

-My chapters range in word count from 2,500 to 6,000, not including author's notes. I'm tired of hearing things about word count to be honest. I like my chapters to focus on a limited number of things and I won't go out of my way to add pointless, boring things to make the chapter longer.

-I'm not the best with battle scenes, in my opinion. Some agree and some don't.

-I talk a lot in my author's notes. You can skip them. Just read what's in bold text. It's usually important.

-I type fast. Typos happen. I also write when I'm sleepy sometimes so word confusion happens.

-Occasionally, my mood will influence my chapter. If I'm really depressed, I may make a random, super happy, super sappy romance chapter or super cute fun chapter to cheer myself up.

-I try to give head's up on when I will vanish.

**Character Credits:**

Kimi – Raiyane

Mistere - StingIsNotHere

Hikari - Hiragami Kotone

Cantrelle – Iheartfairytail21

Yuki and Sara - shadowssj12

((Oi, don't use these characters without permission from their owners, please. You have permission to use my characters, but please tell me that you are doing so or credit me in what you use them in, so I won't think my character has been stolen.))

To the reviewer who submitted an OC without being signed in: I'm sorry, but I cannot submit your OC as there was an Ice Dragon Slayer submitted before yours.

* * *

CHAPTER ONE

"They're noisy and rowdy..." Crystal mumbled as she eyed all of the Silver Griffin members as they interacted, a small crowd around the request board, a few people having breakfast at the guild hall, and a few on the sofas. Most of them seemed to be awake and anticipating the day, and the noise level in the guild hall was a bit louder than usual.

"They're children.. Surely you can deal with that," Winter responded, chuckling lightly under her breath.

"I don't like kids, unless it's Cantrelle. That kid's okay."

"You can't pretend that this bunch hasn't found a place in your heart..."

"Yeah, they've probably found themselves a place on the Magic Council's radar. Why did you think it was a good idea to accept all of these kids without looking into their magic? Don't you think-"

"Hush now, Crystal. Some of these kids probably didn't even know what it was like to smile before coming to Silver Griffin. They're happy. They understand that their magic is dangerous. Don't be so critical."

Crystal huffed and turned her nose up to her sibling. "You'll say that until the guild is shut down and we all end up in prison."

"At least I'll be with my children. We're a family, even if we're a family in prison."

"You're ridiculous," Crystal mumbled.

"Winter-obaachan... Crystal-obaasan...?" a soft, young female's voice sounded from the staircase that led to the upper floors of the guild hall and Winter turned her head to see a small girl with pale blue hair that fell just past her chin walking down the staircase, rubbing one of her large green eyes sleepily. She was dressed in her usual attire of a simple green dress over a white floral t-shirt, but she had the small quilt that Winter had made her wrapped around her shoulders and her hair appeared to be lazily kept.

"Good morning, Cantrelle," Winter said.

"Did this noisy bunch wake you up?" Crystal asked.

'Mhmm... But... It's okay," the little girl responded, walking over to sit on the sofa that was behind the counter. She plopped down in between Winter and Crystal and curled up. "Are Kimi-san or Hikari-san here?"

Winter's eyes scanned the area and shrugged. "I don't really see either of them, dear. Would you like me to go cook your breakfast?"

"You don't have to take the time if you don't want to, Obaachan," Cantrelle responded. She wasn't really the granddaughter of Winter or Crystal but was instead a child who's parents were killed when she was six. Winter had found her in the woods about six months ago and brought her to the guild to live. She was the only the child of the guild due to the fact that very small group of mages that made up the first generation of Silver Griffin hadn't had kids, and if they had, they didn't join the guild. Now, Silver Griffin was technically going into it's second generation, but apart from Winter's real granddaughter, none of the youth of the generation was even related to the first generation.

"Let's go, sweet child," Winter said, standing and leaning on her walking cane, letting out a slightly tired sigh. She hated old age. She wanted to see the youngsters that were surrounding her now make it into old age, but she wasn't even sure if she'd see them make it into full adulthood at the rate she was aging. She didn't want to leave the guild to her snooty sister, either. Besides, Crystal wasn't much younger than her. She planned to see how Cantrelle and her granddaughter Azura aged before determining who would be heir to the position of guild master. She wasn't sure Azura was really suited for the job, but she could just be in her rebellious years. As for Cantrelle, it would take more years to determine.

"Obaachan...?" Cantrelle started as she followed Winter up the strairs. Winter glanced over her shoulders. "If Hikari-san will, do you think it'd be okay with me to train with her sometimes? She uses Sound magic, and that's close to Song magic, so I think that it would help me a lot to be able to train with her... And it would be nice for me to be able to get some more experience with my magic. I want to be a really strong mage, too, one day!"

"If Hikari will train you, she would be the most suited person to handle the job," Winter responded. "I would love someone who knows about your time of magic to be able to train you... I am no use in that department, unfortunately..."

"It's okay, Obaachan... You've helped me enough anyway," Cantrelle said, smiling brightly at Winter. She admired Winter, but she had no idea how to even begin learning the magic that Winter used. Besides, she liked her Song magic. It reminded her of home and it always sounded so pretty.

* * *

"Where are they...?" A tall, slender female with pink hair that started out straight, but became wavy towards the end, bits and pieces of it curling under her rounded chin. Her amber eyes scanned the guild hall as one white-gloved hand rested on her hip. Everything about the girl seemed to stand out... Or it normally would, if most-if not all-of her guild mates stood out as well. Her skin was a slightly pale shade of cream. She was dressed in a white tube top with a pastel pink outline of a cupcake on the left side, a frilly, short white skirt with hot pink lace and trimming at the bottom, white, knee-high boots with hot pink laces and pastel pink stars going up the side, and a pastel pink cardigan that was buttoned only once, right over her chest, where cleavage would be, if she had a significant amount of it, which she didn't.

"Awww... Don't tell me they left without me..." she pouted, though the smile barely even left her doll-like face. She scanned the area again just as a group of mages was departing from the request board.

Her eyes landed on a female mage with long, wavy locks of sky blue hair that was pulled up to keep from getting in the way. This mage was dressed in a short white button up dress with long, cuffed sleeves. Her skin was a cream color. The toe of her white combat boot was gently tapping against the hardwood floor.

"Mistere-chan~~~~!" Kimi squealed, dashing over to her and tackling her, wrapping her arms around the shorter mage and hugging her tightly. "I knew you wouldn't leave meee~~~!"

"What the-?" Mistere let out a surprised yelp. The smell of sugar hit her, and she calmed down, her shoulder slouching as she realized who it was. "Good morning, Kimi," she said, returning the hug and then slipping out from Kimi's arms. "Sleep in?" she asked, her deep blue eyes going up to look Kimi in the eyes.

"Nope! Just had an extra-big, extra delicious breakfast," Kimi said, giggling and twirling around, humming some random tune. "Where's Hikari-chan~?"

Mistere looked around and after a moment, she shrugged. "Do you think she'll mind if we go ahead and pick out a couple of missions to choose from?"

"Don't think so. I wanna work with food, how about you?" Kimi said, turning and scanning the request board.

"You only think about food," Mistere responded flatly. She tried to keep a straight face, but she ended up smiling. Kimi was her best friend, and had been since she joined the guild a little less than a year ago. They were quite the amusing duo to think about. While Kimi dressed in pink and white and fought with pink flames, she dressed in blue and white and fought with blue wisps. Kimi came off as bubbly and sunny while she came off as quiet and reserved to the people who didn't know her.

They had been a duo, doing missions that two people could handle for the first six months that Mistere had been in the guild, but then the Earth dragon slayer and Sound magic user Hikari had joined Silver Griffin and began talking to them a lot and taking missions with them. So now, they were a trio, and a powerful trio at that. However, Mistere and Hikari hadn't been in the guild long enough to see an S-class test, and Kimi had never really done any significant missions that would earn her attention before they came along, so none of them were S-class mages.

"Sorry if I'm late," A voice called, and both of the mages turned to see another female mage walking towards them, a bright smile on her face. The mage had dark magenta hair that was average length and smooth, with longer bangs that were usually tucked behind her ear but still managing to shade her crimson colored right eye. Her left eye was bright blue, and unless one was to see her with her bangs clipped back, they would think that she was blue-eyed. She had slightly tanned mage wore a white sundress that started out slim-fitting around the chest but frilled out with cute lace around the ends. She had black legging under that, and wore brown boots that stopped midway up her calf on her feet.

"Hikari-chan~~~~!" Kimi greeted he with the same greeting she had given Mistere, tackling her and wrapping her arms tightly around her. Kimi was quite affectionate to her two best friends and it was something that they were used to.

"Hiya, Kimi," Hikari returned the hug, giggling lightly. Once Kimi let her go, she walked up to the request board. "Have you two found anything that we can do?"

"Nope," Kimi responded, still twirling around and humming.

"Are you even looking?" Mistere asked, watching her as she twirled. She was almost certain that Kimi never sat still. She even tossed around and sometimes hummed in her sleep for crying out loud!

"Maaayyyybeee," Kimi sung out, giggling. "Have you two made rent this month?" she asked. She finally stopped twirling and folded her arms across her chest.

"I haven't," Hikari admitted, rubbing the back of her head and laughing nervously. "I've got almost enough put back, so as long as we get a mission worth 30,000 jewels, we'll be okay."

"You two need to learn to save more... I have enough money from last month's missions to pay rent," Mistere said. She was cheerful, like her two teammates, but she was a bit more sensible than both of them.

"But food... It's so yummy and I love trying to bake new things..." Kimi whined.

"I usually save, but my scythe needed a nice re-enhancement to the blade and the only blacksmith in this town overcharges, really,' Hikari said, a hand sub-consciously going to the flute handle of her scythe, sort of as if she was making sure that it was there.

"Either way, now we know a little bit about the criteria for the mission we need, so we really need to start looking now," Mistere said. She turned back to the request board and began to tap her foot against the floor again. She had noticed that the amount of requests had gone up within the last couple of months. It used to be easy to choose a mission because there wasn't really that much to choose from, but it was starting to become constantly crowded at the request board, as everyone was indecisive.

Apparently, this topic was on Hikari's mind too, because she struck up a conversation on it. "Do you ever think that we'll become big like Fairy Tail or Saber Tooth?" she asked. "We get lots of requests now, so does that mean our guild is starting to get established?"

Before Kimi or Mistere responded, Winter's voice sounded from behind them, causing all three of the girls to jump and let out surprised squeaks. The guild master had a tendency to do that to her youngsters. "It does, actually. I'm quite proud of this, too. We've started getting many requests and sometimes we even get knew guild members who purposely traveled to join this guild."

"Does that mean that we'll finally try to participate in the Grand Magic Games this year?" Hikari asked.

"Yeah, I wanna show the top-notch guilds that Silver Griffin is awesome, too~!" Kimi chimed in.

"The Grand Magic games are eleven months away... However, I could see us participating, yes. Then again, I don't know if I want my children participating against such a wild crowd," Winter said, her voice fading at the last part of her sentence. She knew that the Silver Griffin members didn't back down from a challenge, and she knew that most of the members of the top guilds were that way, too. That was how they made it to the top. She knew that there were usually a couple of bad injuries during the tournament, and she didn't want to see some scum of a guild that managed to slip in torment her children.

"Oh, c'mon, Obaachan. So many of us look up to those bigger guilds. It would give us such a confident boost," Hikari said. As many of the other guild members, she saw Winter as her grandmother and Winter came off as an overly protective grandmother, too, when she worried so much about them.

"I dunno. I'd be really scared if I had to face Natsu-san... He could eat my magic. That... That would make me nearly useless, since my Cosmic magic takes so much energy to use. I'd have to have a huge meal if I even wanted to stand a chance of laying a finger on Natsu-san," Kimi said. She wouldn't mind participating in something big like the Games, but she didn't think she stood a chance. Then again, Silver Griffin was home to many mages that were way stronger than her, anyway, so she doubt she'd even get placed on a team to begin with.

"It would be a bit intimidating the first time," Mistere said. "No one would be cheering for us and we would probably get booed if we did manage to damage the members of the other guilds..."

"Don't worry about it, you three... It's nearly a year away, " Winter said, smiling warmly at them. "It was nice talking with you three. Such bright young ladies, you are..."

"Thank you, Obaachan," Mistere, Kimi and Hikari said in unison, bowing their heads respectfully as Winter walked away.

"A-ano... Excuse me," Cantrelle came skipping down the stairs and bounced over to Kimi, Mistere and Hikari. "Good morning, Kimi-san, Hikari-san and Mistere-san," she greeted them, bowing her head. "I was wondering... Could I go on a mission with you three? I really want to watch Hikari-san use her magic, because I think I could learn from her!"

The three female mages exchanged glances, each trying to gauge the reaction of the other two. Eventually, Hikari was the one who spoke first.

"We're probably about to take on something that's a bit dangerous. I don't know if it's right for you to tag along on this mission," she said. She didn't mind the thought of Cantrelle tagging along on a mission with them but she didn't want to take the child on a high risk mission. They didn't have time to take a small mission at that moment, either, because it would risk Kimi and her getting evicted from their apartments due to not paying rent.

"That's the best kind of mission for me to tag along on, though!" Cantrelle insisted. "You three are surely going to have to fight, and I can see you use Sound magic, and maybe I can learn some stuff about quickness from Kimi-san or something about strategy or combat from Mistere-san!"

"Yeah, but I think Obaachan would kill us if we got you hurt," Hikari said, laughing nervously. Really, she imagined that they would forever be in cased in crystal ice for all of eternity to suffer from their guilt. It wasn't a pleasant thought.

"I think she should go," Kimi said, twirling around and then giggling. "She has to learn sometime, and she's right that she won't learn anything if she just sits around and waits for someone to take on easy, low-risk missions with her."

"Are you sure that's the best judgement, Kimi?" Mistere asked. It wasn't that she didn't agree with her friend, she just had similar thoughts that Hikari did, as well.

"Well... I started taking missions when I was about a year older than what Cantrelle is, and most of the time I was alone because there weren't many people in the guild. I didn't die," Kimi said. "Obaachan sees the strength in people, and I'm sure Cantrelle's told Obaachan that she was going to ask this, right?"

Cantrelle nodded. She had told Winter at breakfast that she wanted to start taking missions. "I really want to go with you three, because I think I can learn the most from you three."

Hikari sighed. "Okay. But if something comes up and we tell you to run or hide, you'll do it, right?"

Cantrelle nodded eagerly, a bright smile on her face.

"If all else fails, one of us can run with us and then two of us can stay and fight, I guess. It wouldn't be a problem." Mistere said, shrugging. She didn't have a bad feeling about this. Everyone had to learn how to be a mage sometime. Or, at least when you belonged to a mage's guild.

"Alright~!" Kimi giggled. "Welcome to the team, Cantrelle-chan!" She exclaimed, extending a hand down to Cantrelle, a determined look in her eyes.

"Yay! Thank you three so much! I promise I won't get in the way!" she said, taking Kimi's hand and beaming up at the three girls.

* * *

"Saraaa, we should stop and eat soon," a male with spiky red hair that was held out of his face by goggles whined as he trailed behind his partner. The male had shining emerald green eyes and was dressed in a black shirt with a red horizontal stripe across the chest, a red sleeveless jacket, khaki cargo shorts and brown sandals. His skin was a creamy colored. His hair, eyes or apparel wasn't what made the young Silver Griffin mage stand out, though. It was the fact that he had bright red fox ears atop his head and a bright red fox tail that spilled over the top his shorts and trailed behind him.

Normally, the male was energetic and happy, but he hadn't ate breakfast and he and his partner had been walking for at least three hours, trying to make their way back to Nadeshiko and their guild.

His partner was a young, cheerful female with long brown hair that had choppy, spiky bangs that were pulled back with a white headband. She small in weight and height with fair skin and bright blue eyes that seemed to shine whenever she was happy, which was most of the time. She was dressed in a white sleeveless sweater over a black tantop, along with a blue skirt, black knee-high socks and white sneakers. She was a walking a bit ahead of her partner as he had started dragging once his stomach started growling.

"If I remember, I think there's small restaurant with yummy food 's called Seb's Cafe, I think... We'll only be about an hour away from the guild. Do you not want to wait and eat at the guild, Yuki?" the girl asked, looking over her shoulder at her friend. Her cheeks flushed slightly when she saw him, but as always, he didn't seem to catch it. Sara had had a crush on Yuki since he had saved her from a bandit four years ago. She was more cheerful when she was with him. However, he was dense when it came to romance and was oblivious to her feelings, it seemed.

"Can't wait... Starving...Need food," Yuki mumbled, sighing as he rubbed his growling stomach.

Sara smiled sympathetically at him. "Okay. We'll stop and eat."

Once food had been sat in front of him and he had stuffed his face with a good portion of it., Yuki instantly brightened up. "Did you enjoy the mission, Sara-chan?" he asked, his mouth half-full.

"Yeah. It was really easy, though," she responded. They had simply had to escort a richer man to a town that was about 4 hours outside of Nadeshiko. The area wasn't highly dangerous and they hadn't had to fight at all. The mission had only taken three days to plus to the mission was that it was a high class man, and so the pay was nice.

"I wish there was more of a chance of fighting, too," Yuki said. He coughed as he choked a bit on his food and then frowned. After getting over the small coughing spell, he sunk back, done with his food in only a matter of minutes. His belly was slightly bloated. "That rich man only wanted to talk about money. So boring. There's better things than money, like friends and the guild and magic."

"That's the way some higher class people are," Sara responded, laughing at the fact that Yuki had stuffed himself. The man that they had escorted reminded her of her past life before joining up with Yuki. She had been raised in a rich family. Yuki had even asked her on the way back if people like him made her miss home. Her honest response had been "No". She didn't miss that life. Being in a guild and being with Yuki was all she needed in life.

"Money's not that interesting. We just need it to pay rent and buy food," Yuki said, a thoughtful expression on his face. "I guess people who aren't in guilds don't understand, right?"

"Yeah. They don't know what they're missing," Sara agreed.

The waitress came up and after confirming that they didn't need anything, the waitress noticed the guild mark on Yuki's shoulder. "Are you from Silver Griffin?"

"Yeah! You've heard of the guild?" Yuki's face lit up and he sat up. He couldn't say that Silver Griffin wasn't unheard of, but it wasn't that well known.

"Of course! It's not far away, is it?" the waitress giggled. "Don't be so modest," she said, placing a hand gently on Yuki's shoulder. She was blushing slightl.

Sara could feel her jealousy boiling. Looking down at her food so that the waitress wouldn't see the annoyed look in her eyes, she spoke flatly, "What do you want, miss?"

"Oh. We need some help finding something that disappeared. The food would be on the house, if you help us," the waitress said, giggling nervously in attempt to lighten the mood. "Just come behind the counter when you finish eating if interested," she said, turning to walk around. Over her head, she said "You two are an adorable couple," though it had a bitter, sarcastic tone to it.

"Do you not like her, Sara?" Yuki asked, oblivious to the entire situation. "I didn't know you came here that often."

"Don't worry about it, Yuki," Sara said sweetly, looking up and smiling brightly at her. "I'm done, so let's go see what they want?"

"Okay!" Yuki stood and stretched before following Sara behind the counter.

When they got back there, a chubby chef greeted them. "Ah, yes, the wizards! Please tell me you are the wizards, no? I am Sebastian, but you call me Seb."

"Yes, we are wizards," Sara said, bowing her head politely. "My name is Sara and this is Yuki. What do you need help finding, sir?"

"My small frying pan, it was stolen. I like my small frying pan. It is small and cute, no? You will find it, no?" The chef pointed to a spot on the counter where a bunch of cooking utensils were spread out. "It was there last. You can find it, no?"

Sara brought a finger to rest on her chin and thought, but Yuki was already acting. He noticed an open air vent above the counter, and without a second thought, he leaped onto the counter and climbed into the air vent.

"Yuki!" Sara called.

"Sorry!" he called back, figuring that it was something he did wrong because of the scolding tone that Sara used on him.

"Sorry for him," Sara mumbled to the chef, who was watching where Yuki was, dumbfounded. "Where does that lead?"

"The air vent? It leads behind the building, near the dumpster, no?" the chef responded. "I will take you there, no?"

Sara followed the man back behind the house where Yuki was fighting a large raccoon for a small red frying pan.

"It is my frying pan!" the chef exclaimed. His booming voice called Sara to yelp in surprise and the raccoon squeaked, dropped the pan and ran off into the forest that was behind the restaurant.

"I found it!" Yuki exclaimed, jumping up and running over to the chef, his tail wagging with his joy.

"You did! You are a wonderful guild, no! Thank you! Your food is on the house! My small and cute frying pan is back, thank you!" The chef was overly excited for one small frying pan, but he took it and then hugged Yuki and Sara with his other arm, squeezing them together against his fat stomach.

Sara blushed due to the closeness to Yuki and Yuki laughed, glad to see that the chef was happy. It was a successful, yet tiny, mission.

"Now, excuse me, I must go wash my small and cute frying pan..." the chef said, letting them go. He stopped for a moment. "I know! I will make a pastry to honor the amazing guild who found my frying pan! It will be a Griffin cookie, and it will be filled with many sweet things, and it will have the guild mark on the front! Everyone must know about such an amazing guild, no?" Before Sara or Yuki could give them their input, he was running off, back to the restaurant.

"Do you think that's a little much, since it took you less than ten minutes to find it for him?" Sara asked Yuki, a sweat drop on her forehead.

"I dunno. It helps the guild, though, right?" Yuki said, his tail still wagging.

"I guess."

"I'm just glad to help Seb-san. He seems to love his frying pan," Yuki said, turning to start walking towards Nadeshiko.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Yay~ Introductions. I know it's kinda boring, but I need to get them out of the way, right? I have a question! **Do you guys think I should do my own Grand Magic Games Arc? **It would be a lot later in the story, of course, but you would get to see the Silver Griffin members fight with lots of canon characters, as well as some canon characters fight each other. Review or PM and tell me~

I'm not doing introductions in any order. If your character wasn't introduced, expect to see them in the next few chapters. I still have lots of characters to introduce.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed~


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Yay, another chapter. Thank you all so much for the reviews, views and reading! It means so much to me! I'm so sorry to those of you who didn't have your OC in the next chapter. I'm going to try to get all of the introductions out of the way as quickly as I can come up with ideas for them, so hopefully you won't have to wait that long. Annnnddd... Since I got all yeses on doing the Grand Magic Games, that will be a thing. A later thing. A really later thing. However, only five characters can be Silver Griffin's main team, since two teams was a special for that year's GMGs in the anime. What I'm gonna do is call a vote. Everyone will list the five characters that they want to make up the main team. You can list your own OC, but you will have to list the characters of others, since no one has five characters in the story. I'm not going to call for this vote until all of the characters have been seen in combat, though. You'll see the bold sentence in the author's note when I call for the vote. However, if you feel that you're certain who you want to see as a team, then you can go ahead and say so.

*****Slight Warning*****

There is harsh language in this chapter. Like, cussing and whatnot, so you're warned. Sorry. Isn't there like a profanity filter on this site or something?

**Character Credits**

**-**Fame – Raiyane

-Monk – starblack17

-Ice – Rin Ice Miyako

-Coyote – Barrett M107

-Azura – Nicky Azure

((Oi, don't use these characters without permission of their owners. You may use my characters as long as you tell me or credit me.))

Onto review responses!

Iheartfairytail21 – Thanks for reviewing! I really hope I did a good job with Cantrelle. c:

Shadowssj12: Thank you for reviewing! I hope I portrayed Yuki and Sara okay! If I ever mess up, just tell me.

LilTimy: Thank you for reviewing! I thought it would be entertaining, as well. It would be the only way to make the Silver Griffin characters fight canon characters, other than not making them get along. Thank you~

Hiragami Kotone: Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you liked how I'm doing things. I'm also glad that you liked who I put Hikari on the team with. I hope all of the other teams go over well.

La Maitresse' Dame: Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you don't think the chapter is the boring! I hope others found it at least a little entertaining. For me, it's fun to come up with ways to introduce the characters, but overall, when I skim over the chapter in attempt to proof-read, I find them to be boring. ^^;

Nicky Azure: Thank you for reviewing! I'm sorry Azura didn't appear yet. I'm trying to introduce them with the people that they work with the most. As said in the author's note above, I'm going to try to push these introducting chapters out of the way as soon as possible because I know that some people probably find them boring. Then again, I guess I'm the only one who has a detailed outline of every character, so maybe it is just me. :

* * *

**CHAPTER 2**

"Obaachan... Have you seen Coyote, Fame and Monk?" A girl of average height with an hour-glass figure and long, midnight colored locks that were pulled back into a low ponytail that curled at the end sprinted up to Winter, who was in her usual spot behind the counter of the guild hall, half asleep.

Winter opened her eyes to be met with the questioning eyes of her granddaughter, Azura. While one of the questioning eyes was bright jade, the other was silver with hints of violet, and it reminded Winter of her daughter. There were many differences between daughter and mother, though. Azura didn't have the pale, snowy complexion of Winter's blood, but instead had a golden tan, something that wouldn't have been possible for Winter or her daughter, even if they tried. Azura's hair curled at the bottom like her mother's, but it wasn't pale in color. Azura didn't dress in the cute dresses like her mother used to. Instead she dressed in a sleeveless, light blue, kimono-like top with a silver vine pattern on it, black shorts, knee-length black tights, white boots that covered her ankles, and a black scarf that Winter believed to be made by Azura's mother. Lastly, Azura was much more rowdy and outgoing than her mother. Still, Winter treasured the young, tomboyish woman because in her eyes, she could see the determined spark that Abigail used to have in her eyes. "I do not know... I may have been resting, Azu-chan..."

Azura pouted, placing a hand on her hip. "This place is more crowded than it was two years ago. I really want to go on a mission with those three, if they're not already out," she said. "Oh, well, bye-bye Obaachan," she said, walking over and waving over her shoulder. She didn't bow respectfully to Winter like a lot of the guild members did, but then again, neither did the crowd that she hung out with.

* * *

Three guys were sitting at a table. All three had a cup in front of them and all three were staring at the table, their eyes glazed over with boredom. One of them had a gray Exceed with white paws and dark gray stripes on his head and he wore a hoodie that matched that of the male that he sat in front of.

"We should take a mission," a male with spiky gray hair, narrowed hazel eyes, and a strong jaw that were still focused on the table spoke in a flat voice. This male had an athletic build and his arms were covered with tribal that if one examined, they could make out all sorts of animals in it. He was dressed in pink shirt with tribal flowers that matched the tribal on his tattoos, baggy black shorts that fell to his knees, and wooden geta on his feet. His shirt was open, exposing his chest as well as the magenta beads that he wore around his neck.

"That would be something to do," another male with short blond hair and sunglasses responded, leaning back in his chair and tucking his arms behind his head. This male was dressed in a black monk robe with open arms, blue jeans and black shoes that were propped on the table. He was a bit taller and a bit older than the other two males at the table and his skin was an average cream color. Behind his glasses, his eyes were all white, but he kept that hidden since it appeared to bother some people. Not that it would bother his teammates, who had been working with him for around 4 years now. He referred to himself as Monk, though it wasn't his real name.

It would be assumed that since they had been going on missions and spending so much time together over the last four years, that they would be close, but that wasn't really the case. Or, at least it didn't appear to be the case. None of them knew much about each other and they argued frequently due to each of the guys being overly prideful. Most of the time, the arguments, which often led to fights, were on purpose.

"Nikko, you may want to move," the third male with the Exceed in front of him spoke. This male had wavy blond hair with neon blue and black tips that fell into his eyes, covered his eyes and covered the back of his neck. His eyes were bright yellow, narrowed and droopy with dark lashes that framed them. He was tall and slender, though it wasn't to say that he didn't have muscles. He didn't appear to be as tall as he actually was due to his bad posture. He was dressed in a baggy black hoodie with a neon blue lightning bolt on the chest and neon blue stripes going down the arms, along with baggy black cargo pants with chains hanging from every other pocket, and black and white sneakers with neon blue laces. Wires that connected to neon blue and black earbuds hung from his ears and there was a black and neon blue Mp3 player hooked to his belt loop. "Coyote..." he said, his eyes going to the gray-haired boy... "Monk" his eyes going to the blond monk. He knew his real name, but the monk didn't like to be called by his real name, which was fine by him, since he wasn't called by his real name, either. He laced his fingers in front of his face and smirked. Both of his teammates glared at him as his Exceed jumped from the table and put distance in between him and his owner.

"Fame, what the hell is your problem?" Coyote snarled.

"How about we see who's the strongest of us hear? We all know it's gonna be me, but why don't we just see?" Fame asked, flipping his hair out of his face and smirking conceitedly.

"Like hell you're the strongest!" Coyote snapped, jumping up and growling.

"Are you tryin' to pick a fight with us today, you conceited bastard?" Monk questioned, also standing up and scowling at his teammate. "We all know that I'm by far stronger than both of you put together!"

"What the hell was that, you dumbass bastard?!" Coyote growled, his hands balled into tight fists. The gorilla tattoos on his arms began to glow along with one of the beads in his necklace. "I'll kick both of your asses!"

Fame laughed, mocking both of them. He stood and his body began to spark with neon blue lightning. "Let's do this!"

Monk began to glow, too, activating his Fighter's Aura to enhance his own strength, and threw a fist at Fame, who dodged with ease.

This was why they worked well together. They could all boost their strength and speed with their magic, and so when they were all trying their hardest in battle, it was hard to match them, or even land a hit on them.

Coyote jumped onto the table and dropped his leg over Fame's head while he was distracted by Monk, bashing Fame into the ground.

Fame was up within a matter of seconds and throwing a lightning charged punch at Coyote, who stepped to the side to dodge. Fame's fist kept going and crashed into the table, destroying it and sending splinters of wood flying in all directions.

Coyote grunted and jumped from the table , arm-thrusting into Monk and shoving him to the ground.

Monk manged to roll over and land a punch in Coyote's face before throwing him off and kneeing him in the stomach, sending him flying into another table that was thankfully empty.

The table's legs gave in to the pressure of Coyote slamming into it and broke in half. Coyote barely noticed as he was up, throwing fists at Fame, who blocked with his forearm.

Suddenly, there was deafeningly shrill whistle and the three boys froze, Monk's fist in Fame's face, Fame's knee in Coyote's stomach, and Coyote's foot on Monk's back. The guild hall went silent.

Winter walked over hurriedly, giving the three boys cold stares. "You three know to take your little fights outside. Don't fight in the guild hall!" she snapped.

All three of them seemed to be unfazed by her harsh words, staring at her with looks that said they didn't really care.

"Fork over the jewels to repair the damages!" Winter snapped, still glaring at them. "NOW!" she demanded when they continued to stare at her.

All three of them dropped their attacks and turned to Winter. Fame slouched with his hands tucked into his pockets, Coyote folded his arms across his chest, his brows furrowed as he glowered at Winter, and Monk stood with arms tucked behind his head.

Winter's eyes flashed when she realized that they still weren't respecting her. She lifted one finger and they all three began to freeze, slowly.

"W-Wait!" Fame snapped, watching as his entire body was covered in a thin layer of ice that was slowly thickening. "Whatever, I'll pay!" he said, just as magic needles were digging into his body from the ice. They weren't causing wounds, but instead were taking away his magic and weakening him.

"Yeah!" Coyote chimed in, reaching for the pouch that he kept his jewels in, shivering from the cold. The ice prevented them from using magic, so even though he could probably muster up some kind of animal spirit to warm him, he couldn't as long as Winter kept his body coated in ice.

"S-sorry, Winter-obaachan," Monk mumbled, taking out his jewel pouch as well. He was shaking, but at the same time, trying to act tough. What kind of strong guy would be turned into a trembling mess because of a little old woman?

Together, they forked over what they thought to be an appropriate amount of jewels and Winter stopped their freezing process, smiling warmly. "I knew you three were nice boys," she said. "But, you're hooligans!" she said. With that, she popped each of them on the head with her walking cane and then stormed off, returning to her spot in the guild.

"So mean..." Fame whined, rubbing his head where there was now knot coming up. He never kept much money, between paying rent and having to pay Winter when they caused damage to the guild hall.

"Tch," Coyote snarled, his hand on his head, his eyes narrowed as he glared at the spot where Winter had been standing. "I think we should all agree that I won that," he threw in, folding his arms across his chest and puffing his chest out a bit.

"Like hell you did," Monk mumbled, also rubbing his head. Realizing that the knot was noticeable, he hovered his hand over his head and used his Healing Aura to heal the spot on his head.

"A-Are you three d-done?" the gray Exceed walked up to them, his face light pink with blush, and his bright blue eyes on the ground.

Fame smiled. It was one of the few times that a genuine smile would cross his face. He knelt and picked up his Exceed, Nikko and placed him on his shoulder. "We're done, bud," he said, patting the Exceed's head.

Nikko smiled sheepishly in response to his partner.

"Guys!" Azura's voice sounded as she sprinted over to them smiling. She had a white piece of paper in her hands. "I picked out a nice mission for us," she announced, showing them the piece of paper.

They all gathered and stared at the piece of paper as they read it. Once they realized how close they were to each other, they exchanged glares and then moved apart.

"I think it sounds fine. Taking on some bandits that are too close to someone's house for comfort... I mean, the pay is good and as long as I get the chance to show how awesome I am, who cares?" Fame said, smirking pridefully.

Coyote scoffed. "I'm fine with it," he said. "Though I'm not fine with this guy's arrogance."

"Sounds like fun," Monk said, shrugging. While he was arrogant, he didn't have nearly the bad attitude that his teammates did. He at least knew how to crack a joke and smile, unlock Fame and Coyote. "And Fame, I'm almost certain that I heard you say that you want to see how awesome I am, right?"

"Piss off," Fame spat.

Monk laughed and patted Fame's shoulder.

"Don't touch," Fame said, ducking away and dusting off his shoulder.

"What? Afraid of germs of something? Is the big, bad Fame afraid he'll catch a cold?" Monk joked, receiving a glare from Fame.

"Why are you always wanting to do missions with us, anyway, Azura?" Coyote asked, seeming to completely ignore the banter between Monk and Fame.

Azura's eye twitched in annoyance. "You three get the job done. Besides, I feel strong being able to hold up to you three," she said. She then smirked and walked up, closer to Coyote, who glared down at her. "Besides, do you not like having me around?" she asked, placing one hand on his chest.

"Tch. I don't like having anyone around," Coyote growled, moving her hand and stepping back to put distance in between them.

"Says the guy who's been doing missions with me and Monk for years," Fame said, flipping his bangs away from his eyes and smirking at Coyote. Azure had been working with them for the last two years. Before that, she wasn't in the guild, though.

"You three don't get in my way or act stupid enough to get hurt. I don't feel anything for any of you, though," Coyote said, though his voice cracked mid-sentence.

Monk laughed but didn't comment on it. He was already pushing Fame's patience. If he made both of them annoyed, they may end up fighting. Not that he didn't enjoy fights with two people who almost matched his strength, but he didn't want to make the guild master upset again.

Fame noticed that Coyote was probably lying, but he didn't respond, either. He couldn't say that he necessarily like any of the three that he worked with, but they were tolerable, and much like Coyote had said, they could hold their own and didn't get in the way.

"Too afraid to have a softy moment?" Azura teased Coyote. She then turned her attention back to the piece of paper that was in her hand. "So, we're gonna do this mission, right?" she asked.

The three guys nodded in unison.

"Alright. Lemme go tell Obaachan that we're off," she said. With that, she sprinted over to Winter. "Obaachan... I'm going out on a mission with the guys," she said, smiling. She didn't have to tell Winter she was going, but she knew that Winter would worry if she didn't. While she acted tough, especially in battle, she wasn't quite a cold-hearted as two of the guys that she hung out with.

"Okay," Winter sighed, barely opening her eyes. "Please don't let those boys' rotten attitude rub off on you," she added. She had been saying that for two years, since Azura joined the guild and instantly took up with the arrogant guys of the guild. Winter couldn't say that their arrogance wasn't well placed. As much as she could recall, the three had never failed a mission. She only got good reviews about them from clients and there had even been a couple of clients that had requested them specifically.

Azura waved off her comment. "Bye, Obaachan," she said, running back to join the guys, who were waiting beside the door. She wasn't sure how she even tolerated them, sometimes, what with Monk's constant joking and arrogance, Fame's conceited vanity, and Coyote's all around bad attitude. However, they made her feel strong and she worked well with them. There were times when they got over themselves long enough to have a nice conversation about music or training. However, none of them talked about their past. She didn't even know Fame's or Monk's real names and even though Coyote said that he was going by his real name, she couldn't be sure. She didn't know anything about them and the only thing they knew about her is that she had previously traveled and was the granddaughter of Winter. The past didn't really matter, though, did it?

* * *

Diamond-like irises watched the small group of dark mages below, much like a predator watches prey. It was almost time for her to move. This would be an easy mission.

With an quick flash, a blunette with long, wavy hair that had black ends jumped from the trees and landed in front of the trio of dark mages, her scythe in hand, her purple-green eyes narrowed. She wasn't the most noticeable girl in terms of dress, as she was dressed in a simple black shirt with a funnel-like collar, gray skirt with black leggings,red sneakers, and indigo headphones on her head, but she had remarkable magic.

Not long after she appeared from the tree, a white Exceed with a purple cross earring dangling from her left ear followed behind her. Unlock most Exceeds, this Exceeds wings were black in color. The Exceed had dark purple eyes that were cold, much like her partner's.

The three dark mages smirked and the first one jumped and shot out a chunk of ice, expecting to catch the Silver Griffin mage off-guard.

The girl smirked and absorbed the magic, eating it. Once she was done, her fists and scythe became coated with ice and she dashed forward, swinging with precision. The mages were no challenge for one of the few S-class mages of Silver Griffin. Sometimes, she wished for more of a challenge when battling, but it was rare that she got one.

The mages fell to the ground and the girl let out a small, uninterested grunt. She looked around, looking to see any sign of the sword that she was supposed to retrieve. Unless the client had been wrong about what size the sword was, it would be nearly impossible to hide. Which meant only one thing. She stood in the middle of the three mages that were suffering on the ground, her scythe still in her hands. "Which one of you is the requip mage?" she asked, her voice low and harsh. She wasn't the type of person to talk a lot, and she didn't like loud noises.

"Why would we tell you? You after that sword?" One of the mages hissed, glaring at her. He was slowly getting to his feet, his entire body shaking.

The girl arched a brow, wondering what someone who was so weak had intentions of doing. Her eyes emotonless, she walked over and stepped on him, pushing him into the ground with her shoe. "Don't question. Just give me the sword and there won't be anymore trouble."

"You two, run, now," the man said, his voice pained and shaky. He let out a grunt as the girl continued to dig her shoe into his back.

The other two started to struggle to their feet, but the girl took one hand off of her scythe and held her hand up. It still had an icy aura and she condensed the aura and shot two spears of ice at the two mages who were trying to get up. She wasn't aiming to be lethal and the two shards buried into the shoulders of the mages.

Both of the mages let out cries of pain and fell back to the ground, blood seeping from their wounds and staining the ground.

The sound annoyed the girl and she grimaced. Realizing that she wasn't getting anywhere with this, she unequipped her scythe, moved her foot, and picked up the mage that she was stepping on. She reequipped on of her katanas and pressed it gently to the man's throat. She turned and looked at the other two mages. "You value this man, right? He is a comrade... If you hand over the sword, he will not be damaged."

"Don't do it," One of the mages snapped to the other as he lifted his hand.

The sword was requipped to the empty hand and the mage dropped it on the ground at the girl's feet. "Please, just leave us be..." he whimpered out.

"You damn coward!" the man that she was holding hissed, just as she dropped him and picked up the sword, sending it to her reequip space.

The girl gave the three battered mages one final glance before running off. She had no intentions of killing anyone. It wasn't in the nature of Silver Griffin to kill their opponents and if Winter caught ear that one of her mages had intentionally killed another, she would banish them from the guild. She made that clear to every member who joined.

She arrived back at her client's house after about an hour of traveling and handed over the sword, which was a simple blade with a family crest on the hilt.

"Thank you so much, ma'am," the man, a middle-aged man said, taking the sword and bowing his head. He walked over to a glass case that contained a sword rack and placed it there before approaching the female once again. "Here is your pay. You did an excellent job and I will be sending requests to your guild again if I need it."

The girl took the pay and did not respond to the man's words. She turned to walk away, but the man's words stopped her and she turned back around, folding her arms over her chest.

"I don't believe I ever caught your name. Would you mind introducing yourself in case I find that my problem is something that only you can handle?"

"Ice Sakuraba..." she responded, turning to walk away again.

"Thank you once again, Ice. Have a safe journey back," he called after her.

She left the clients home, made sure that her headphones were secure on her head,and sighed. She didn't like social interaction. It was the only thing that tired her.

"It really is painful for you, isn't it, Ice?" Cross asked. She was gliding beside Ice. She could sense the strain that Ice was going through and she wasn't dense. She knew it was from having too much social interaction.

"Hm," Ice snorted. The only person that she could really stand to talk to at all was Cross, but still, she didn't talk much to her, either. She liked silence more than anything.

Cross sighed and smiled at her partner. At least she wasn't a social Exceed, either. Then again, she probably wouldn't travel with Ice if that was the case.

Break break break break

**Author's Note: **Okay~ Yay~ Another set of introductions out of the way~ I liked writing the fight between Monk, Fame and Coyote. I've determined that I will have two more chapters worth of introductions before I get into other stuff. There's gonna be lots of fun stuff. Sorry about the cussing in this one. Fame and Coyote need to be whacked on the head with Winter's walking stick a few more times. XD

Sorry that Ice's Intro is a little short, but she's a quiet solo character so it was a bit hard to work out an introduction. Hopefully I got who she is across though. ;A;


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ I've started getting so many ideas flowing through my head with this story. I probably need to put them in a note document or something. :U This chapter may be a bit short, but I want to keep it as introducing two teams per chapter, but one of the teams I'm introducing in this chapter... They're a team of ladies with more serious or refined personalities and so they won't have rowdy or loud conversations.

I know I have a lot of characters in this, but I needed characters that were suited more for certain people and I was ready to start the story. Most of these characters are characters that I've made already, so it was easier for me to insert my own characters than to wait for characters, since I already received a lot of characters. It also helps for me to use my own characters because I don't have to get used to them since I've worked with them and I can give them less attention without someone being upset about me not using their OC a lot and thinking that I don't like their OC. The only OC that I haven't worked with a lot is Gwen, who hasn't been introduced yet. Fame and Kimi are my babies. XD

**Guys, guys! What do you guys think of omakes? Like, they would be interviews with the characters by me and stuff, or just randomly dropping two or three characters into the Omake room together. You guys could suggest characters-only Silver Griffin members for now- to be dropped in together, or suggest funny questions. It would probably be in script format or something different and it would be a chance for me to get better with the characters. **

Oh, and I'm already up to 27 reviews. Thank you guys so much! ;A; It means a lot to me. Keep reading. It should get better. These introductions can't be that interesting because they're not that fun for me to write. _

*****Tiny Warning*****

Thugs are evil, and some of the stuff they say to one of the teams may be a bit... Touchy, so yeah.

**Character Credits**

Nezuko – Raiyane

Marionette – La Maitresse' Dame

Eira – StingIsNotHere

Gabriel and Ikaros – LilTimy

((Oi, don't use these characters without the permission of their owners. You may use my characters as long as you ask or give me credit.))

**Review Responses**

**starblack17 -** Thanks for reviewing! I so had to go to Doc Manager and add this response in. I was just about to submit this chapter and I noticed the number of reviews went up. I'm glad I did a good job with him. To be honest, he was one of the one's that I was worried about because I didn't feel as if I could get him spot on. He was also sort of in the middle of the two big guy teams, in terms of personality, so I had to pick which one he was more suited in.

**La Maitresse' Dame –** Thanks for reviewing! And Fame is a pretty boy with really pretty eyes and he's more or less aware of this. :P I'm glad I'm doing a good job of introducing characters~

**discodisco – **Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you like it thus far~

**shadowssj12 –** Thank you for reviewing! Glad I did good with Sara and Yuki~ Hehe, as for Ice, I do agree that Ice is really awesome and powerful. However, I don't know to be honest if she would participate in the GMG when I have it. She's a solo character, apart from Cross being with her. And you made me panic for a minute by calling her Azura. ;A; I thought I got character names mixed up somehow, even though I proof-read it. ^^:

**Barrett M107 – **Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad I got Coyote right. He's just a bit out of my comfort zone, personality-wise because I'm not used to working with rude characters, so it's really good to hear that I did a good job. I thought they would make a really good team. With my errors, they're usually due to lack of sleep. I get the most urges to write late at night and I write when I tired, which isn't the best thing. I also can't catch my own grammatical errors when I proof-read, as I've started to realize. X_X; My profile doesn't say my gender. X_X Oh, well. ^^;

**LilTimy – **Thanks for reviewing! I like that team a lot as well~ Then again, I really love all of the teams. C: I hope I can do well with Gabe and Ikaros, who will be introduced in this chapter~

**Junior the Otaku – **Thanks for reviewing! It's okay for you to be a late reviewer. I'm glad I'm doing a good portrayal of the characters. I'll get better as I go, too, hopefully. Sara being plain is probably just my fail portrayal of her, to be honest. She's not supposed to come off as plain. X_X I will be doing GMG, since I haven't gotten any negative feedback on the idea. I'm glad you like Coyote~ Glad you liked the chapter and I will try to continue pushing chapters out as I think of them~

**Hiragami Kotone – **Thanks for reviewing, I'm really glad you like the chapter~

**Nicky Azure – **Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad I got Azura right! C: And I hope you don't mind that she's with a team "Bad boys" per-say, though all of them have soft spots. I was worried with this, but the other male team has more members and it would be too large of a team. ;A; I forgot Artemissssss... I'm so sorry. ;A; I realized it when I woke up and started working on this chapter. Too many people have reviewed so I'm not going to go back and edit. I'm gonna work it into the story. So, I didn't reject Azura having an Exceed. I'm forgetful. I managed to remember about Cross and Nikko, who had to be inserted before I posted the chapter, but I didn't remember Azura's exceed. ;A; Fail. X_X

**LinkinParkTheKillersFan -**Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you like the story. I enjoy OC fics as well~ ^.^

**preciousjewel101 – **Thanks for reviewing. I do want to do an S-Class exam, actually. However, I don't know how to work it out. I've got to think of Silver Griffin's special place, like how Fairy Tail has Tenrou Island. I've also got to think of what they will have to do. It will take some time and it's another thing that would probably be later in the story.

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CHAPTER 3

Dark, round emerald eyes with long lashes narrowed and a black and white knee-high boot tapped against the concrete ground of the harbor as a fair-skinned woman with long, wavy blonde hair waited. She was dressed in a black and white corset that was accented with lace and a frilly black skirt that matched,. Her messy bangs were clipped out of her narrowed eyes by three golden hair hairpins, two of which formed an X in her hair. She was overall a fair woman in general with curves where they were needed and the only noticeable "flaw" in her skin being a beauty mark that resided under the corner of her left eye.

"I am _not_ waiting forever, dearest Nezuko and Eira... We were supposed to meet at the port an hour earlier than the suggested time on the request so that we could have a quick lunch," the girl mumbled to herself, placing a hand on her hip and letting out an aspirated sigh. "I guess we'll be doing this mission on an empty stomach, after all..."

When she was about to give up hope on her two teammate showing up, she saw them in the distance, sprinting towards her. She glowered and turned her nose up to them, wanting to let them know that being late for plans wasn't an okay thing.

The first of her two partners was a girl of average height and average cream complexion. This girl had drab, tumbleweed brown hair that fell past her chin and onto her forehead with choppy ends. The girl's eyes were almond-shaped and pale pink in color. The girl lacked curves on the lower portion of her torso, but she had a bust that could draw attention, making her a bit awkwardly proportioned. She was dressed in all beige clothing that consisted of a hoodie with half-sleeves that didn't cover her stomach, shorts that stopped midway down her thigh, and boots. All of her clothing was lined with white fluff.

The second of her partners was more of a refined beauty, like the girl who had been waiting. Her hair was long and blonde as well, though the tips were white. There was a ribbon tied in her hair that held it back and seemed to segment off the white from the blonde. Her eyes were large and a misty blue that would remind someone of the skies. Her skin was fair and her body wasn't lacking in curves, either. She was the tallest of the three females, standing nearly a head above her two friends. She was dressed in a sleeveless, v-neck dress that clung to her curves, along with white, knee-high boots. A diamond shard that hung from a necklace was nestled into her bosom, catching the light.

"You two are late," the girl mumbled, glaring down at them, only one of her two eyes open.

"Nezuko... Got into a fight with the monk..." the girl in white said, her eyes showing that she was generally uninterested in the annoyance of her teammate. "...She asked me to wait, so I did."

"S-Sorry, Marionette-chan," Nezuko breathed, resting on her hands on her knees and panting. The girl didn't really look like she fit in with two beauties she was with, but she got along well with them, for the most part, since they were all serious-natured, apart from Nezuko's occasional rowdiness when she heard someone bragging about their strength. "He's so... Smug... Had to do something..."

Marionette let out another sigh. "I don't think we have time to eat, now," she said, glancing at the clock-tower that oversaw the harbor, his hands once again on her hips.

"Sorry," Nezuko said, her bangs shading her eyes, which held the shimmer of guilt.

"It's fine," Marionette said, shrugging off her teammate's mistakes.

So, in silence, they waited for their client. When Marionette noticed that the client was thirty minutes late, she began to wonder if the mission was a set-up. Winter checked over clients before accepting to put their requests on the board, though, right? Besides, when did being late entail that the mission was a set up? Why did she feel so antsy about this? Surely they wouldn't fall into a trap. Still, she had a bad feeling about everything.

"We should leave," Eira mumbled in a low tone. She felt the dark cloud of doubt over her head and she knew that there was something wrong with the mission. She wanted to leave before they found out what it was.

"Let us go," Marionette said. However, as soon as she took a step forward, a duo of men appeared from behind s large stack of boxes that were on the port. They were dressed in ragged clothing, their skin was caked with dirt and grime and they reeked of alcohol. Lovely.

"Oh, wow... You Silver Griffin babes really are something else," one of the men, who had more hair than his comrade, who was bald, said. His tongue licked his lips and he stepped forward. His eyes seemed to scan the figures of the three griffins and he smirked.

"Oh, looks like we're gonna have some fun tonight, eh, Allen?" the bald one smirked, stepping closer to the three girls. His eyes glistened with intoxication.

"So it was a setup?" Marionette groaned. She was prepared to fight, even though she didn't feel that the thugs were even worth her time.

"'S'right, lady. We used one of the names of the aristocrats in town after we managed to get a hand on a letter from 'him. Signed his name an' everything," the guy with hair, Allen explained, slurring over his words.

"Yep. We knew dat ya Silver Griffin women are sometin' else. There ain't a one of ya that ain't fine as hell, so we wanted a few for ourselves," the bald one explained. "Glad some pricks didn't take da mission. Now ya tree can jus' come along. We'll go nice an' easy on ya. Maybe..."

"Gross..." Nezuko hissed, glaring at them.

"The women at Silver Griffin aren't only beautiful, but strong. I don't see how you think that we would just give in," Marionette said, her voice cold.

"...Not damsels in distress..." Eira pitched in. Her eyes were narrowed, but apart from that, she didn't seem fazed by the thugs.

"Puttin' up a fight. Just like we like 'em, right Kurt?" Allen spoke, snickering. With that, he removed the weapon from his back. It was a large gun with two lacrimas jutting out from the top.

"What a shame that you two will be in so much pain," Marionette breathed. "Then again, I guess scum like you probably deserve it, even if you are not worth our time."

"Hehe. 'S'not like women can do anything against us burly men, but I might as well fight," Kurt said. He pulled out two daggers from his pockets and charged forward, aiming for Eira.

"Offensive," Eira murmured. She lifted one hand to the sky and muttered, "Seraphic Summoning, Blade of the Heavens." Her hand was filled with a glowing, pale blue sword. As soon as Kurt began to swing his dual daggers, she took one swing with her sword and knocked him back.

He gasped and held his side where the blade had hit, drops of blood dripping down and staining the gray port. The blade wasn't meant to kill and so the damage that Eira dealt to him wasn't as harsh as it could have been. "What a bitch! I like 'em feisty, though!"

Allen began to fire his gun, which seemed to fire some bullets that were made of ice and some that were made of water.

"Hmph," Marionette wasn't impressed as she jumped into the air, easily dodging his inaccurate firing. "Light Magic: Luminous!" she called as a bow appeared in her hand, an arrow already drawn and ready to be fired. She fired one of the arrows and shot the gun out of his hands.

Allen didn't even seem to try to dodge her attack. In fact, his eyes seemed to be focused on trying to see up Marionett's skirt, a droplet of blood leaking from one nostril and drool forming on the corners of his mouth.

Marionette caught was he was doing, but she was indifferent. The ruffles of her skirt were heavy and so it wouldn't come up and the thick black cloth blocked the view of anything, anyway.

"Idiot," Kurt mumbled.

Nezuko rolled her eyes and clapped. "Take 'em away, my lovelies," she called, to nothing at all, it seemed. Suddenly, thousands of squeaks sounded from under them, and rats seemed to come from every crevice of the harbor, heading towards Kurt and Allen.

"What the hell?" Kurt stared in horror at the hoard of rodents. "What a disgusting magic!" he snapped, hopping back and trying to avoid the rats, which were climbing all over him, squeaking and nipping at him.

"Says the scum of the earth," Nezuko said sarcastically. While most of the rats were attacking, there were a couple of them that were on her shoulders, snuggling up to her.

Soon, the two were completely covered in rats and the crowd of rats began to move them, leading them to the water and throwing them in. Their screams were heard as they fell in. The hoard of rodents watched to make sure they wouldn't attempt to get out of the water, nipping at their heads and hands when they attempted to get out.

Nezuko laughed and signaled for the rats that were on her shoulders to leave her and help the hoard. She was quite accustomed to her magic being called "gross". She was so used to it that it no longer bothered her, even though it had when she was younger. She accepted the fact that she was a rat girl, and that's why she chose to call herself "Nezumiko" meaning "Daughter of Rats", though it had been shortened to Nezuko over the years. She knew that she would probably never find love, not with such a "filthy" magic and so she had iced that part of her heart over and became indifferent to it. As long as her cousin Gwen, Marionette and Eira could put up with it, she didn't care. She owed her life to the rats and even though each summon of rats brought different ones, she felt a bond to each of them.

"Shall we go, then?" Marionette asked, after losing interest in watching the rats torment their enemies. She had to admit that it was a weird magic and Nezuko in general was a weird girl, but they had been working together as a trio for a little over a year, and she was used to the magic.

They were an accidental team, partially. Eira and Marionette had been working together for a couple of months before Nezuko joined them. The two classy mages had decided to work together because they could tolerate each other, and it was easier than doing solo missions. However, they had found themselves in a pinch, surrounded by too many enemies to be able to fight them off with just two people. Nezuko had shown up, just completing a solo mission, and had used her rats to damage and distract the opponents and the three of them had managed to emerge victorious. Once back at the guild, Marionette had noticed the apart from socializing with one female, Nezuko spent most of her time alone, apart from sometimes having a rat or two on her shoulder, and so Marionette started inviting her to go on missions with them. They worked well together. Nezuko could provide distraction and support while she and Eira could use their powerful magic to defeat enemies.

"That's probably best," Nezuko said. "I think we should get back to Nadeshiko and eat."

"Food would be nice..." Eira said in a soft, polite voice. Eira was the quietest of the trio, only speaking when her opinion was strong of when it was a dire situation. Usually, their travels consisted of a silent Eira with small talk about clothing, the guild, magic, or whatever town they were in between Marionette and Nezuko.

"What despicable men," Marionette huffed under her breath. She looked back to see that the rats were gone and neither of the thugs were anywhere to be found.

Nezuko chuckled under her breath and turned back to Marionette and Eira. "Can you imagine what would have happened if one of the male teams would have taken the mission instead of us?" she asked.

Marionette thought for a moment. "I imagine that they would have been stood-up. I bet the thugs wouldn't have come out. Then again, the only guys that don't have girls to travel with them are Kai, Stark, and Leo. I think they may have come out if they saw Azura-san with her trio."

"I would like to see them try to mess with Azura," Nezuko commented, smirking. "Not only would they have gotten their asses handed to them by her, but they probably would have nearly every bone in their body broken by the guys," her voice faded and she frowned. "Not that I think they're strong or anything."

"I don't think they would have stood a chance against any of the guild members. They were quite pathetic," Marionette commented.

Nadeshiko was in clear eyesight and Nezuko's hand sub-consciously patted her jewel pouch. Hey eye began to twitch as she realized the main problem with the mission being a set-up. "We. Didn't. Get. Paid."

"It wasn't that much of a waste of time," Marionette said. "We can just get back to the guild and grab another mission."

Nezuko sighed. "You're right. Still, aristocrats pay a lot, so I was looking forward to that. At least we didn't end up losing a lot of time or money for the mission. It would have sucked to have had to pay for a train ticket or something and then have it be a stand-up."

Marionette and Eira nodded quietly in agreement.

* * *

"Gaaaaaabriiiieeelllll... You should make time for ussssss~" one of the four girls that were surrounding him cooed, gabbing onto his upper arm and clinging to him, smiling up at him with large, lust-struck eyes.

The 6'3'' teen let out a deep sigh, filled with annoyance. Not that any of the clingy girls would catch it. They didn't seem to know the meaning of annoyance. His blue eyes opened and he gave the girls what was supposed to be a threatening glare, but they all swooned instead. "This... Is...Hopeless..." he mumbled to himself, he ran a sun-kissed hand through his dirty blond hair that was messy and sometimes fell into his face. He could feel the four girls tugging at his gray hoodie and the the toe of his black combat boot dug into the ground outside the restaurant that he was standing in front of. His patience was wearing thin.

"Are you free tonight, Gabriel? Or are you out being a super-strong, super sexy mage?" another one of the shallow females asked, placing her hands on his chest and trying to get close to his face.

"Nnn," he grunted, turning his head away from them. He didn't like this. He had literally pushed them off of him and tried to walk away three times now, but every attempt had failed and only made them cling to him more. What was with these girls?

Finally, his savior. "Gabe? Are you around?" he heard the voice of the sweet girl that owned his heart. He peered over the girls to see her. She was dressed in her normal simple white sundress with the black button-up shirt under it, white thigh socks, and black boots that looked similar to his. Her shoulder-length, reddish pink, layered hair was down as usual, with a wing-shaped barrette in either side of her hair. She looked like a tiny angel as always, with her round, dark green eyes scanning the area in search of him. They were meeting up to eat together. While Gabe would like to call it a date, Ikaros was too dense to even know what that meant, so he didn't bother.

Ikaros spotted Gabe and smiled. She noticed the girls surrounding them, and seeing them touch him felt like something was pinching at her heart, but she didn't comprehend the feeling, so she ignored it.

The four girls that were surrounding Gabe turned to see Ikaros, and their eyes narrowed, staring her down from head to toe. "Are you his girlfriend? You're nothing special," one of the girls-the leader of the pack of shallow dolls-said, placing her hands on her hips and giving Ikaros the stink-eye.

Ikaros looked dumbfounded. "I'm a girl, and I am a friend of Gabe's. Are you four his girlfriends as well?" she asked, a genuinely curious look in her eyes.

Gabe face-palmed when the girls started swooning and giggling. They sounded like a coop full of hens. "Ikaros, let's go," he said, finally able to slip away from the girls and take his place beside Ikaros.

Ikaros smiled. "Okay." She turned back to the girls and waved. "Erm, bye, other girlfriends."

Gabe face-palmed again. If only he had a wall to beat his head against. That seemed like the only solution to how he felt at that moment. So. Dense. He loved her. There was no doubt about that, but she was so dense when it came to romance and flirting. There had been times when guys had come onto her, pointing out that she had a nice figure, and she simply said "Thank you", not fully understanding that they were coming onto her. He had to pull her away from guys who had naughty intentions of taking her because she was too dense to understand what was going it. It was... Troublesome.

"Gabe, why do you keep hitting yourself in the face?" she asked, looking up at him, that look of curiosity still in her eyes. "Do you have to say that every time someone says the word 'girlfriend'?"

Gabe wanted to face-palm again, just because it would probably make her giggle, but he didn't. "No..." He waited until they were seated at a booth before he spoke more. He felt his cheeks lighting up as he spoke this time. "Ikaros-chan... Do you really not know what it means to be someone's 'girlfriend'?"

Ikaros blinked and Gabe could already tell that her answer was going to be something dense. "It would mean just like the word sounds... A female friend, right...?"

Gabe sighed. "You talk to Kimi a lot, right? Surely a girl like her has talked about dating or something with you, right?"

Ikaros pursed her lips together as she talked. "I... Dunno..." she responded.

"Has she never talked to you about guys or anything like that?" he asked. Maybe he had to wrong impression of Ikaros's sweets-loving friend. Maybe she was dense, too. Now that he thought about how few couple there were at Silver Griffin, maybe all of the girls were dense...

"Oh! Kimi says that she would like to date someone who would let her hug them a lot, but she said that she focuses too much on missions to really look that much into dating... She asked me one time if I liked you, and I said yes and it made her giggle... I think she said something along the lines of

'I knew it. You two are adorable together'," Ikaros spoke quickly, recalling a conversation that she had had with the pink fire mage.

Gabe's fae lit up to match Ikaros's hair and he could feel his heart beating fast in chest. "Do-do you th-think we'd make a cute couple, Ikaros-chan?" he asked, his voice shaky.

"Of course!" she said, making his the butterflies that had appeared in his stomach dance. "We work really well in missions together and we've been friends for a while. I think all of the teams at Silver Grffin look cute together!"

And the butterflies were dead. It took everything Gabe had not to bang his head on the table. So close... So close to a romantic moment, yet so far away. He wasn't sure how to go about confessing in a way that she would understand. It just didn't seem possible. Maybe he should just kiss her... That would be his first kiss though, and the thought unnerved him too much to even think about.

"Gabe...? Are you sick?" Ikaros asked, snapping him out of his thoughts. "You've been acting weird today and your face is red. I can get you medicine if you want. Or walk with you to a doctor. Or even carry you to-"

"Ikaros-chan... I'm fine," Gabe said, interrupting her and giving her a bright smile. "Don't mind me!"

That smile made her stomach and chest feel weird, and Ikaros found herself placing a hand on her heart, which was beating fast. She would have to ask Kimi about this feeling. It had been happening for a while now, but it was getting worse. Sometimes, her face even got hot when Gabe got to close to her. Surely Kimi would know what was wrong. She was smart like that. Or... Maybe it would be better to ask Gabe. He was smart, too.

After clearing her throat, she opened her mouth to speak, but before she could get anything out, the waitress came and brought their food. "Enjoy your meal!" the young girl said cheerfully before walking off.

The smell of food hit her and she began to eat hastily.

"Ikaraos-chan, were you about to say something?" Gabe asked, not concentrating on his food. It had seemed like it was important, judging by the serious look that Ikaros had had in her eyes.

Ikaros looked up at him and blinked. "Huh?" she asked, tilting her head to one side. She scanned her mind for recollection that she was about to say something before getting food, but the only thing she could think about was food. "I'm sorry. I don't remember," she admitted laughing lightly.

Gabe arched a brow and watched her for a moment, just in case whatever she wanted to say came back to her, but she seemed so lost in her meal, so he shook it off and began to eat. And just like that, things were back to normal. Things like this had been happening for at least three years and it was always this way. He never made any progress in getting his true feelings across. Maybe it was for the best. Maybe Ikaros didn't like him in that way, anyway.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Yep, this chapter's short. I knew it would be. Hopefully you guys will enjoy it anyway~ Please review if you have something to say, especially if it involves the question I posed at the top.

And a note on Nezuko... I personally love rats and own one particularly fat rat, so I like her magic. I understand that some of you may find it creepy. Sorry. ^^;

Thanks for reading~ Hope you enjoy~ Expect the final introduction chapter within the next day or so. If your character hasn't been introduced, then expect them to be in the next chapter.


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes: **Hi, guys~ Finally! The last chapter of introductions! However, I have the most characters to introduce in this one. ;A; I divided them up a bit weird. So, just a warning... This chapter may be a tad long. Also, in regards to teams, the teams will switch sometimes, especially when some of the less prevalent pairings start to be introduced. Also, there will be missions involving canon characters when stuff develops more. So, if you want to see your characters work with someone, just tell me! I don't mind. However, Ice and Stark are solo, and Gabe/Ikaros and Yuki/Sara prefer to travel together, so keep that in mind.

I know I left a lot of characters until the end. It was supposed to only be two larger teams, but then some some last minute changes were put into place and... Yeah... This should probably just be broken down into two chapters, but I told myself and you guys that this would be the last chapter of introductions and so it's gonna be.

As always, thank you guys so much for reading and reviewing~ Lots of love from me~ c:

**Character Credits**

Danny, Gwen, Emery – Raiyane

Stark – StingIsNotHere

Lillay – Skye Marvell

Leo – Junior the Otaku

Sharon – Preciousjewel01

Jarad – Lazyboredom

Kai – Fairytailwolf6

**Review Responses: **

**Junior the Otaku –** Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad that you don't find Nezuko's magic to be creepy. ^^ Hehe. I'm really glad that you liked the chapter~ I hope you think I did an okay job with Leo. His introduction is lacking a bit because I was pushing it on my personal word limit. Expect to see him again soon. ;A;

**LinkinParkTheKillersFan** – Thanks for reviewing! I think the "oblivious" thing is a common thing in anime, but I find it adorable, so I like writing it~

**shadowssj12 –** Thanks for reviewing! I don't think many-if any of the girls in Silver Griffin would fan-girl. Hehe... It's actually gonna be a challenge for me to even figure out how to write Ice with her partner, when it gets that time. I'll have thought of it by then, though. C:

**Nicky Azure –** Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you thought the chapter was cute~ I was planning to make Artemis forgotten, like that she didn't wake up when Azura tried to wake her and she lost her patience. ^^;

**LilTimy –** Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad I did a good job with your characters~

**La Maitresse' Dame –** Thanks for reviewing~ I'm glad I did a good job with Marionette. Hopefully I'll get better with working with her as the story progresses. It takes me some time with some characters. ;A; I did all of the teams and friendships by personality, and I thought that Eira and Marionette would be good friends. I will also be making Marionette work with Kai and possibly Danny and Leo, since they're Kai's friends. I'm glad that you thought Nezuko's magic is original. ^^ When college starts for me, I will definitely not be able to get updates out nearly every day, like I'm doing now. I'm going to have a 500-5,000 word assignment twice a week in Literature and that will take up some of my time. This semester is bad for me, so I'll try to push out chapters at least twice a week, though if my grades start slipping, it may fall to once a week. I'm terrible with math and I have my last math class ever this semester. T_T I'll have to study a lot for it. And cry a lot for it. ;A; I'll have weekends and breaks and I'll write then, too. I'll try to never let my updates fall below once a week, though, and if I know it's gonna happen, I'll leave a bold notice in the author's notes.

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CHAPTER FOUR

"The garden is so peaceful," a petite, curvy girl with round, pastel pink eyes said, exiting the guild through the back door, a book tucked under her arm. The girl had long lavender hair that fell midways down her back in most places, with the front being a bit shorter and the very back of it touching her tailbone. She was dressed in a pastel pink and cream striped cardigan that was buttoned up over a white tanktop, matched with cream-colored short shorts, white-knee high socks and cream colored slip-ons. Her bangs were tied out of her face by a pastel pink ribbon with a cream teddy bear charm on it. She skipped over to one the six beige wooden benches that lined either side of the garden. She curled up on it and was about to crack open her book when she noticed that there was another girl in the garden with her. Her face lit up as she realized who it was. "Emery is back~!"

The girl in the garden with her was another petite female that looked like the embodiment of nature. Her pale green hair was long and tied in a single braid that fell down her back. Colorful flowers that were grown with the mage's own magic decorated the braid and her bangs framed each side of her face, clipped with flower pins to keep them there. Her eyes were violet and round with dark lashes. Her skin was tanned with freckles dotting her nose and shoulders. She was dressed in a simple, flower-print, lavender dress that stopped just above her thighs, beige slip-ons that were identical to the other girl's slip-ons, dark green shorts that were hidden by the dress, and a pale green poncho that covered up her shoulders and chest. "Oh... Hey, Gwen," the girl said, greeting her best friend with a smile.

"How was your stay with your mom?" Gwen asked, still curled up on the bench.

Emery walked over and sat next to her, letting out a calm sigh. "It was good, as usual," she responded. "How have you been?"

"Lonely," Gwen answered, pouting. "Everyone's been going on missions... I resulted to asking Fame if I could tag along, and I got scoffed at," she said, glaring. Gwen's magic was more of a support magic. She was able to map out areas, research, set barriers and set weak mines with her Technician magic, a magic that resembled Archive magic, but she needed someone who could work with Lightning to meet her full potential. The only ones who used lightning in the guild were Leo and Fame. Leo would sometimes take missions with her, if he wasn't busy flirting or being distracted by other people, but Fame bluntly told her that she was too weak to hang around with him. Hurtful.

"Sorry," Emery said, rubbing the back of her hair. "The offer stands for you to go with me next time."

"It's hot. Everywhere is hot!" a voice came from the guild hall as the doors opened and two more females walked out. The one who was speaking was wearing a red bikini top, black shorts with red chains dangling from them, red sandals, a black anklet and a red bracelet. Her light brown hair was pulled up into a ponytail to keep it off of her neck, though strands escaped on each side to frame her face. Her eyes were bright blue and held a look of annoyance in them.

There was a white Exceed wearing a dark red kimono trailing behind her. Her eyes were dark red and naturally narrowed. However, the Exceed had a sympathetic look in her eyes.

The girl behind her her had dark violet hair that was in the same style as her friend's hair, though it was longer and would reach her thighs, if left down. Her eyes were turquoise but they didn't hold the glimmer of annoyance at the non-existent heat as her friend's did. She wore a one-piece with short shorts and a t-shirt, as well as sleeves that weren't attached to the shirt and black ankle boots with turquoise accents. Her clothing was purple with black and turquoise accents and golden cuffs and edges. She also wore a golden heart necklace around her neck.

"Hi, Lillay, Sharon, Izzy" Gwen greeted both of them and the Exceed with a friendly smile. "Did you just back from a mission? I haven't seen you two around too much." Gwen was lonely. She got lonely and noticed the absence of her guild members. She had picked up traces of most of their magics and she had researched them. She knew that Lillay was the Ice Dragon Slayer-which was probably why she was hot at that moment-and Izzy was her Exceed, and she knew that Sharon fought with Air magic. She also knew that Sharon had been in the guild for a couple of years while Lillay had joined within the past two months. Gwen knew the names, voices and magics of all the guild members that she had come in contact with and she memorized them. It helped when she was mapping out battle strategies when tough opponents came up.

Emery on the other hand, was a little less involved with the guild members than her friend, and so she arched a brow. "How can it be hot to you? You can't lose anymore clothing than you already have."

Lillay gave Emery a piercing glare, and as if taking it as a challenge, she removed her shorts, revealing red panties underneath. She dropped her shorts on the ground and let out a relieved sigh. "That's a little better, at least."

Izzy continued to give her partner a sympathetic, letting out a small sigh.

Emery stared, dumbfounded, a sweat drop on her forehead, her eyes shaded by the astonishment that she felt. She wasn't really that familiar with Lillay or Sharon. They were stronger guild members who spent a lot of times out on missions. That was all she knew about either of them.

Lillay walked over and sat on a different bench than the other girls. "At least it's cooler in here than in there. Too crowded in there," she said, nodding towards the guild hall.

"You are weird," Emery mumbled, finally getting past her issue with people stripping so fast. She had never seen anyone like it.

"Why are you so awestruck by it?" Gwen questioned. "Surely you've heard of Gray-san of Fairy Tail or Lyon-san of Lamia Scale? It's just an ice-mage thing, I think."

"Well... I've never seen either of them. I don't follow other guilds. They're probably weirdos just like this one, then," Emery said, nodding towards Lillay when she said "This one".

"Call me weird one more time!" Lillay snapped, her eyes twitching with anger.

Sharon chuckled on her breath, knowing what was about to happen. She wanted to rest, though, so she walked over to one of the empty benches and plopped down, her turquoise eyes focused on the sky. There was nothing better than relaxing after a long mission. As long as nothing was started with her, she would remain calm and just enjoy the time that she had decided to take off.

"I think you're weird, so I'm gonna call you weird," Emery said, returning Lillay's harsh tone with a harsh, piercing look.

"Don't f-" Gwen started just as both of the female mages hopped up, sparks flying between them. "-ight," the Technician finished her sentence and sighed sadly. She glanced over as Izzy flew and sat next her, her hands brought together under her chin and her eyes shimmering with worry.

"Ice Dragon's Crystal Fist!" Lillay called out as her body began to emit ice-cold air and her arm became coated in thick ice. She charged forward and swung her fist at Emery.

"Ruby barrier!" Emery called, throwing her arms up to make a strong wall that was made of rose bushes in front of her, shielding her from the attack.

Lillay's fist collided with the wall and the thorns of it stabbed through her ice. The wall still continued to freeze, though, until the flowers on it were coated with ice and beginning to wither.

Emery somersaulted backwards just as the barrier broke. She landed on one hand. "Jade Entanglement!" she called out as the ground around her began to glow, tiny flowers blooming all around the area. The flowers sparkled for a moment before shooting out of the ground, their roots aiming to wrap around Lillay.

Lillay jumped up, dodging and hurled herself at Emery. "Ice Dragon's Fang!" she cried as her body was surrounded by ice and she tackled Emery to the ground.

Emery let out a surprised yelp that was cut short as she hit the ground and the breath was knocked out of her. She coughed, but regained her composure and pressed her hand to the ground.

Before Lillay could react, a root shot from the ground and grabbed her by the ankle, throwing her into the ground a few feet away from Emery.

Lillay managed to climb to her feet and dash for Emery just as a beeping sound came from Gwen's direction. "Barriers: Activate," Gwen spoke into a glowing headset that went with the bright blue screen and keyboard of her Technician magic. The screen disappeared so that she had a view of the two girls just as Lillay slammed into an invisible wall that glowed bright blue on contact.

"Ow!" Lillay yelped, sliding down the barrier and ending up in a pile at the base of the barrier.

Gwen watched them for a moment to make sure that they were both calm. Emery was lying on the ground, holding her stomach with a pained look on her face and Lillay was still staring the barrier, not bothering to get up.

"I'll make sure she doesn't fight again," Izzy offered once she caught onto what Gwen was doing.

Gwen nodded and a button appeared, hovering in front of her hand. She pressed it and the barrier disappeared. While Izzy flew over to Lillay, Gwen skipped over to Emery.

"Why did you get into a fight with someone?" Gwen asked, helping her friend to sit up. Emery really wasn't the fiery type to get into fights often.

"I speak my mind. If someone wants to pick a fight with me because of it, then I welcome it," Emery said, rubbing her head. She wanted to appear tough, but her body ached, and in all actuality, she was a pacifist and didn't really like to fight. However, she wasn't just going to let someone charge at her and not fight back.

"Are you going to be okay? Gwen asked.

Emery nodded. "I'll be fine."

"You shouldn't be so reckless, attacking another guild member!" Izzy scolded Lillay, who was now sitting up and rubbing her head, which had hit the barrier when she crashed into it.

Lillay climbed to her feet while responding, "It was just a friendly spar." She walked over to Emery and extended a hand down to her. "Right?"

Emery gave her a look that seemed to question her sanity and stood up on her own, dusting herself off. "I... guess... Isn't that what any fight in the guild is?" she asked, forcing a friendly smile. She didn't associate much with people apart from Gwen, but she didn't want to get on someone's bad side, either.

"I shoulda joined in on that," Sharon said, standing, stretching and walking over to where the other girls were standing. "I could use a good spar one day. I've sparred enough with Lillay, so I'd like to spar with one of you."

"I... I can't fight unless Fame or Leo fight with me," Gwen said, rubbing the back of her head. "I need an outside source of electricity..."

"I'm really not one to just spar all the time, either," Emery admitted. "I guess we could try it one day, though."

"Why do you have to have an outside source of electricity?" Sharon asked, tilting her head in question at Gwen.

"Erm... I can take the electricity from users of Lightning magic and use it to charge up my magic to be able to attack with it. I can't directly attack with... I'm... Not really a battle mage," Gwen explained, blushing lightly.

"I'd like to fight you and one of the lightning boys together one day. I bet it would be interesting," she said.

* * *

"Hey look, the train!" A tall man with brown hair that shaded one of side of his face said, a crooked smirk on his face. His orange eyes sparkled as he peered over the stone bridge that he was standing on and watched the passing train.

"Stark... Don't do what you're thinking," the brown Exceed who was flying beside him warned, pawing at the orange lock of hair that flowed from the back of her head to her waist, the other arm crossed over her black dress. Her dark eyes watched her partner.

"You know me too well, Terra!" the boy commented, the smirk not leaving his face. An orange boot was placed on the railing of the bridge as the Stone dragon-slayer hoisted himself up onto the railing. "Let's go!" he shouted happily as he jumped from the railing, his brown poncho catching in the wind revealing the orange shirt underneath.

"Stark!" Terra shouted, but it was too late.

He landed on the train smoothly and dusted off his brown trousers."See, Terra? It was just fo-" he stopped mid sentence as he realized the exceed hadn't caught up for him. He had in mind to look around for her, but his face began to turn blue, and suddenly his cheeks were puffed out as he tried to keep himself from getting sick. He started to sway and before he could gain his footing, he fell from the train.

"STARK!" Terra screeched, diving after him. She made it just before he hit the ground, though she didn't manage to keep him from hitting the ground. She slowed him down just as they skidded across the ground, tumbling over each other and letting out gasps and grunts of pain.

Once they came to a stop, Stark sat up, Terra in his arms. He had a few cuts and scrapes, but he was smiling down at his Exceed. "Thanks, Terra! Are you okay?"

Terra turned her face from his and stuck her nose up at him. "I don't even want to talk to you right now, you moronic mage!"

"Oh, c'mon, Terra!" Stark said, snuggling the Exceed. "We didn't get hurt, and it was fun!"

"It was immature!" Terra snapped, wiggling in attempt to get away from him. "You know you get motion sickness, so why did you think it was a bright idea to try to jump on a train?!" She gave up on trying to get away from him and her eyes stared down at the red and blue triangles on the front of Stark's poncho, anger glowing in her eyes. "We should get back to Nadeshiko. Don't do anything else idiotic, either!"

Stark stood, letting Terra go. He dusted himself off and chuckled. "You know, you treat me like your child or little brother sometimes, Terra. I'm an S-Class Wizard, though."

"You _are_ a child!" Terra insisted, slapping him in the back of the head. Not that her tiny paws could do much damage, and she was probably aware of this, but she was ticked off.

"I'm nineteen," Stark said, rubbing the back of his head just to give her false satisfaction. He looked over at her and gave her a rather boyish smile that didn't help his case. He had started walking, and Terra was right beside him, her face set into an adorable pouting face.

"Age does not define maturity," she said bluntly. "You're a child and I'm pretty sure that anyone who is around you for an extended period of time would agree that you are a child."

"Maybe I should ask the guys about that," he said, referring to his friends back at the guild. He didn't work with them much, but he hung out with them when they were all at the guild.

"Don't ask other children if you're a child."

"Jared's not immature, and neither is Danny," Stark retorted. He doubted that either of them would be there, though, since they had left on a mission a few months back and hadn't returned yet. He understood long missions, but Danny was rarely ever present at the guild at all. He would stop in for a drink, grab another mission, and head right back out. He wasn't sure why his fellow S-class mage chose to take someone with him this time, though. Maybe he got lonely or something.

Terra responded with a small huff.

* * *

Stark didn't make it back to Nadeshiko before nightfall. He passed by a inn with a small bathhouse and after checking his funds, decided that it would be a good idea to stay there for the night. Just as he had finished checking in, he heard someone calling his name and turned to see two familiar faces.

The first of the faces, and the one who had called his name was a boy with messy reddish orange hair that shaded his matching reddish orange eyes. He was tall, but only a bit taller than Stark and the other guy that he was with. He was also rather slender, apart from the bit of muscles that were present in his biceps. He was dressed in a black sleeveless shirt with a high collar, black pants that poofed out a bit and black boots. He didn't have his normal gray belt on, nor the two gray straps that normally formed an X on his chest and secured his weaponry. The boy was smiling a bright smile.

The second of the two guys had dark brown hair that covered his temples and curled inward, and his bangs were kept over to the left and overall, his hair had a gelled messy look to it. He had dark blue eyes that seemed to mask emotions and his skin was slightly tan. Like the other boy he was with, he was tall and slender, lacking muscles in his upper body. He was dressed in blue shirt with a tight neck, under a white, unzipped jacket that had green stripes going down the arms and torso, along with lose fitting white shorts that fell to his knees and a white belt with a silver buckle that had a good bit of belt hanging off of it. He was also wearing dark blue sneakers with orange stripes on them.

"Danny! Jared!" Stark grinned, walking over to them and returning Danny's wave. "You two done with your mission or what?"

"Yep," Danny responded, smiling. "Finally gonna go back to the guild for a couple of days before heading out again." His eyes became distant for a few moments, but the clouds quickly cleared away and he smiled.

Jared caught the clouds in his eyes and inwardly sighed. While they had been on an actual mission, it wouldn't have taken so long if Danny hadn't gotten side-tracked looking for a girl named Lillay. From Jared's understanding, he had been looking for this girl for around five years and hadn't found a hint of anything. Danny had confessed that he was in love with the girl when they were younger, but Jared wondered sadly if the girl would even be the same person after such a long amount of time? He had kept all of his questions to himself and had simply helped Danny and listened to his feelings. Maybe he would be lucky.

"Oi, Danny, what's up?" Stark asked, having also caught the fleeting clouds of sadness in his friend's eyes. He arched a brow and watched, seeing if he could catch the clouds again.

"Oh, hah, it's nothing," Danny said, waving it off. In all honesty, he wasn't sure why he had told Jared but he didn't feel like telling Stark. In fact, he was pretty sure Jared and Kai were the only ones that knew of his issue, apart from Winter. The sadness came back and he sighed. "Why don't we head to the bathhouse? I need to relax," he said.

Stark shrugged. "I need to go drop some stuff by the room," he said. With that, he and Terra parted ways with the Danny and Jared and headed to their room.

* * *

"Hey, hey, lovely damsels!" A voice made Emery and Lillay cringe in unison. The four girls had went out for the day, but now the sun had set in they were in the dimly lit garden, chatting about random things.

Gwen blinked, wondering why they had cringed and looked to see two guys that she knew as Leo and Kai walking out into the garden, both with grins on their face.

Leo was the one who had spoken and he was a tall, athletic guy with skin that had been tanned by too many hours in the sun. His hair was jet black and a bit messy, falling past his ears. While his eyes were naturally narrowed and intimidating, he was grinning, which gave him a softer appearance. He was dressed in an unzipped, dark green jacket over a black shirt that was tucked into blue jeans, along with black combat boots and black fingerless gloves. His pants were held up by a lazily done brown belt that missed a couple of belt-loops.

Kai also had jet black hair, but it was a tad bit shorter and was styled into a small faux-hawk. His dark green eyes weren't as intimidating as Leo's and they sparkled playfully, matching his playful smirk. He had a similar body build to Leo as well, with an athletic build and tanned skin. He was dressed in a tight fitting black t-shirt that left the outlines of his muscles to show through and camouflage pants that were tucked into his black combat boots.

Along with Gabe, who didn't always hang out with them and didn't actually flirt with girls, Kai and Leo were the "players" of the guild. They were handsome and strong, but didn't give off a repellingly strong air of arrogance like Fame, Monk and Coyote did.

"So... Which of you four wanna go on a date with me tonight?" Leo asked, his signature grin still plastered on his face.

"I'm out," Lillay said, standing up and leaving the garden, walking around the guild hall. She didn't like flirtatious guys like that. They irked her. Even if she did admit that her heart already belonged to someone, they probably wouldn't listen. Besides, who knew when she would see him again? It had been years...

Izzy followed Lillay without a word.

"Same," Emery said, standing and trailing behind Lillay. She didn't like people touching her, flirting with her, none of that. She just didn't like romance. She hated that they were in her sanctuary, though. She would just have to find somewhere else in town to go.

Sharon was relaxing on a bench with her eyes closed, but she opened them when she heard that Emery and Lillay were leaving. "Bye, you two!" she called. She didn't want to move. She could just blast them back or something if they messed with her.

"Hey, that leaves you two beauties to answer my question? Do you both wanna go on a date?" Leo asked.

"Not interested," Sharon said, yawning and letting her eyes drift closed again.

"A date...?" Gwen asked, tilting her head in a cute, childish manner. Dates could be cute and it would make her blush. Then again, both Emery and Nezuko told her that Leo was just a player and she needed to reject him. She didn't know how to go about doing that.

"Yeah, why don't we go on a date together?" Leo arched a brow, plopping down on the bench beside her. They had worked together a couple of times by her request so maybe she actually liked him. "C'mon. You ask to work with me all the time. You gotta be in love with me or somethin'!" he said, throwing an arm around her shoulder.

"Eh?" Gwen blinked. "Well... Erm... I'm busy tonight. With reading. I bought a lot of books and stuff..." she said, though her face was bright pink. She had to remember the advice that Emery and Nezuko had given her, even though it sounded like it would be really fun to go on a date. Scenes from romance novels that she had read flashed through her head and she covered her cheeks with her hands, giggling. She then remember how rejection worked in those books, though. She needed to be polite about it because she didn't hate him. "Oh, thanks for asking though."

"He asks all the girls," Sharon called. "You shouldn't thank people like that."

Leo removed his arm from Gwen and turned his attention to Sharon. "Are you jealous or somethin'?" he asked.

"Nope," Sharon responded flatly.

Gwen questioned why she felt a light pain in her chest even though she was the one who had turned him down. That wasn't supposed to happen, either, was it? Maybe she liked him. Then again, he liked everyone, so that wouldn't work, would it? Deciding that she was getting caught up in what should be, she changed the subject. "Leo," she said, tapping on his shoulder gently. She had taken a small pouch that was clipped to her shorts and removed a few small, clear lacrima. "Can you put your Lightning magic in these for me? I need them for when I go on a mission..."

He turned to her and took the lacrimas from her. "Sure, Gwen," he said. She had asked him to do this quite a few times, so he knew the procedure. He balled his fist around them and made his fist spark for a moment. He then dropped them back into Gwen's open hands. "How long have they been empty?"

"I dunno... You guys were gone for about a month... So probably that long," Gwen responded, putting them away. Her eyes then widened as she realized that she had forgotten her manners. "Oh, um, thank you!" she said, bowing her head respectfully, blushing, the kind of blush that she deemed "the bad kind of blush" since she had embarrassed herself.

Leo chuckled under his breath.

"We should go on a mission," Sharon said, sitting up. She had remembered that Gwen said that she worked well with Leo. She didn't really consider herself to be a part of any team, and usually just traveled with whoever she felt like, though she was close to Lillay and Azura. And while she wanted to be lazy, she was curious to see Gwen's magic in combat since she was still curious as to how having Lightning mage with her would affect her magic.

"It's night," Gwen instantly commented, her eyes going up to the sky. She didn't mind the night, but she would probably be getting sleepy soon.

"I think we should wait until tomorrow, at least," Kai commented. "Leo and I just got back today, after all."

"I'm fine with going on a mission again, if it's with two beauties," Leo said, grinning.

And Gwen felt that pinch in her chest. She knew what it was. She had read her fair share of romance novels in her life and she wasn't oblivious to romantic and jealous feelings, even though she had never dated before. She realized that he hated herself for it, though, because Nezuko and Emery were right. He was a player. "You and I could go on a mission, Sharon," she suggested, trying to pull her mind away before she made herself sad. "I have my lacrima recharged so unless we run into a lot of trouble, it won't be a problem."

"Didn't you just say something about it being late?" Sharon asked.

"Oh, well... I don't think it will bother me that much," Gwen replied, her voice shaking a bit.

"Thought you said you were busy. If you have free time, we should definitely go on a date," Leo teased, wrapping an arm around her small shoulders again.

Gwen's eyes widened and her face lit up, and even though there was that sad part of her mind that didn't want to move, she hopped up and hugged herself. "Well... Maybe I could just read when I get done with the mission or something," she said.

Sharon had realized what was going on and she sighed. Gwen didn't know how to deal with charmers. She sighed under her breath. "Come on, Gwen. Let's go pick a mission," she said, walking towards the guild hall. On her way by, she shot Leo a death glare and grabbed Gwen's arm to pull her along before she embarrassed herself anymore.

"Looks like you got someone who finally doesn't threaten you or beat you when you ask them on a date," Kai commented, patting Leo on the back and smirking. "I'd personally like someone who was more a challenge, but, hey, what do you think about it?"

Leo shrugged. "She's cute," he responded, standing up and stretching. "We should hit the town," he suggested, grinning.

"Alright," Kai agreed, returning his friend's grin.

* * *

"This is ridiculous," Marionette hissed under her breath as she leaned her back against Eira's. They were back in Nadeshiko and had been spending the day together, but Nezuko had parted ways with them. They were both about to part ways, when a large group of thugs who were apparently related to the thugs that they had faced at the harbor surrounded them.

They were all weak and the two girls were having no problem standing up to them, but they couldn't go all out. They weren't in the middle of town, but they were in the housing district, and if one of their attacks misfired, they could end up destroying someone's home, which would get the guild in a lot of trouble. They didn't want to be reckless. If it were an hour or so earlier, there would be more people around, but it wasn't. And it being as it was already obvious that they were mages, people may think that it was just a mage battle. Either that or they just didn't care enough to come outside and see what was wrong.

"Use the attack... That hits most foes...' Eira said. She had a Seraphic blade in each hand and she had attacked multiple times, but the foes had responded by destroying stuff around them, undoubtedly knowing that they were in a tight situation at the moment.

"Okay," Marionette nodded, lifting her hands, which began to glow brightly.

She didn't have time to use the attack, though, because there was the crackle of lightning and a flash of bright light and the bandits began to drop. Whoever had launched the attack wasn't careful, either, because the bandits were slung around, a few of them even crashing into the apartment complex that they were close to. Luckily, the building held up.

"Are you two damsels okay?" Leo asked, his eyes on the bandits as they scattered, disappearing into the night. His hands were still cloaked in lightning.

"Are you two alright?" Kai sprinted up beside him, his right fist glowing with a ball of light.

"Another Light Mage?" Marionette questioned, staring at Kai's hand.

"Thank you," Eira spoke politely, bowing her head. She didn't feel that they needed to be saved, but she wanted to show gratitude anyway. She released her Seraphic summoning and turned to Marionette. "I will be taking my leave now..."

"Okay," Marionette said, turning to face Eira. "Good night, Eira," she said, bowing her head politely. As Eira walked away, Marionette turned back to Kai and Leo. "Thank you," she said, bowing her head again.

"What do you mean by 'another light mage'?" Kai asked, letting go of his magic as well. "Are you a Light mage?" The other girl that was with her used something that resembled light, but it didn't feel like Light magic, which meant that it was probably her.

Marionette nodded. She felt bad for not knowing this, especially since she had been a part of the guild for a while, but she had to ask. "Are you two members of Silver Griffin?" She knew that the answer was most likely yes, but she didn't like to assume. Nadeshiko was a southern town and the only travelers that they really got were people that were looking to get to the harbor.

"Yep," Kai responded, smiling.

"What? Have you not seen us around?' Leo spoke in a teasing manner.

"My apologies," Marionette said, bowing her head slightly. "I am often away from the guild," she added.

Kai shrugged it off. "Eh, aren't most mages who enjoy their work?" He paused for just a moment before saying, "If you use Light magic, then we should train together sometime. Maybe we could learn a thing or two from each other!"

Marionette hadn't trained with another Light mage since she had trained with the relative who had taught her to use the magic. It could be interesting. "I would like to agree with that," she said, giving him a small smile. She was kind of eager to know what he could do with his magic, too.

"Alright! I'm Kai, by the way," he said, waving as he turned to leave.

"My name is Marionette," she said, bowing her head formally. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Leo," Leo introduced himself, his signature grin once again plastered on his face. "Would you like us to walk you home? Or maybe just Kai to walk you home?"

Marionette frowned at his offer and shook her head. "No, thank you," she said politely. She didn't need to be walked home and while she wasn't obsessed with looking strong, she didn't want to look weak, either. Besides, Nadeshiko was normally a calm town; the bandits had just followed her and her team up from the harbor, most likely.

"Well, have a good night, Marionette!" Kai said, giving her a boyish grin from over his shoulders.

"Night!" Leo chimed in, following Kai and waving over his shoulders.

"Good night!" Marionette called to the two guys.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm really sorry that the introduction to Danny and Jared is short, and the introduction to Kai and Leo is lacking in content. I really am. I have more planned, but I don't want to include it in this chapter as it would probably bring the chapter up to about 8,000 words, not including author's notes, and I don't like chapters to be over 6,000 words, excluding author's notes because I am personally not fond of it when I read. ^^;

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible. Feel free to suggest ideas to me. I've got a really long list of stuff planned and I love adding to it!


	6. Chapter 5 xRise of the Griffin Arc

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ We've made it to what I am calling "The Rise of the Griffin" arc! This will essentially be a bunch of chapters of the characters going on missions and spreading their guild's name. Annnd it will be where the characters bond and I'll get completely adjusted to the characters. Not one-hundred percent sure what the next arc is. I'm not done planning. X_X I do have 6 arcs planned after this one, though. :D I may add a couple if I can think of them. :U

**::::PLEASE READ THE BOLD HERE BECAUSE IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT AND MAY PERTAIN TO YOUR CHARACTER'S LOVE LIFE::::**

**I MAY be reworking some of the pairings. I won't change the ones that were made for each other (literally), like Lillay/Danny, Yuki/Sara, Ikaros/Gabe, or Stark/Eira , but I may change some others. So if I told you in PM that your character would be paired with someone and it changes, then that's why. Don't hate me, please. _If you are absolutely certain that your character belongs with who I told you they should be paired with or who you told me they should like, then please PM me so I won't change it._ Also note that just because I say this doesn't mean that the pairing is gonna change. **

**I will be adding in an OC or two so that the couple of people who no longer want their character to be paired with a canon character may change it. So, one or two more characters will be added. If I do end up needing two, I may open submissions for one of the characters. I dunno know yet. **

**If I messaged you asking if you wanted to change your pairing because your character was paired with a canon character, please get back to me as soon as possible~ If you have, then don't worry about messaging me confirming that your character should be paired with your chosen suitor. They're already set pairings.**

**Also, please PM as soon as you can if you feel that your character's pairing shouldn't change.**

Not every character will appear in a single chapter in most chapters. Some chapters will include lots of small scenes with different characters and some chapters may only focus on a small selection of characters. I have so much I want to write and it's really hard to choose~

If you want to suggest things, they can be small missions or things that would do good for character bonding. It doesn't have to be between pairings either. It can be friendship things.

Character credits won't be posted anymore. If you need to know who a character belongs to, just PM me or review asking.

*****WARNING*****

**This chapter contains a bit of pervy material towards the end. If you've watched Fairy Tail, it's nothing that you haven't seen multiple times due to a certain Celestial Spirit, but just thought I'd warn you.**

**Review responses have been moved to the end of the chapter because it looks better in my opinion.**

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE

"Good morning, Winter-Obaachan," Lillay mumbled as she walked into the guild hall, Izzy following behind her, still rubbing her eyes tiredly.

It was early and the sun had barely peeked its rays through the clouds, but the Ice Dragon Slayer hadn't be able to sleep the night before and had decided that she would just go ahead and take a mission to clear her mind. She had dreamed of Daniel again. She could still remember his smile and his bright eyes that resembled fire. She could still remember his screams as he told her to run. She could remember returning to the spot where they used to play every day, hoping that she would see him again. There was a part of her that hoped that he was still alive, but how could someone who was so young and who hadn't used magic much in his life could survive against dark mages. She missed him, though.

"Good morning," Winter greeted her. Crystal was still sleeping and Cantrelle was away on her first mission, so the only ones in the guild hall at that moment were Lillay and Winter. "What is the matter, dear?"

Lillay hadn't even realized that she had tears streaming down her face. She was deeply lost in her own thoughts. "Oh... It's nothing..." she mumbled.

Winter stood and walked over to her, pulling her down into a hug. "You know... I see all of you as my children. You can talk to me if you'd like. I can keep secrets..." Winter mumbled, rubbing Lillay's back softly.

Lillay didn't want to talk about it. No one in the guild knew that she was looking for someone. She wanted to cry, break down and just Winter her feelings, though. She just wanted someone to reassure her that there was hope because after more than five years, it was starting to feel so hopeless. "I miss someone... Obaachan... I haven't seen him for years..." she mumbled, sniffling. "He was my friend when we were children and he protected me... I'm scared that he's not alive, though."

Winter's eyes widened and she thought of the fiery haired S-class wizard who fought with a peculiar magic. She thought of how once he had recovered from his incident, he had cried to her, telling her that he needed to find his friend. He said that he was going to Magnolia to look for her, but he had returned from the mission and broke down, declaring that he must have failed to protect her in the end. How odd that the two were in the same guild and hadn't crossed paths... Then again, Lillay had only been in the guild for a couple of months and Danny had been in it for years and was constantly away on difficult missions. "What is the name of the boy that you miss, dear?"

"D-Daniel..." Lillay whimpered out. For some reason, the tone that Winter had asked the question in made a ray of hope shine through her cloud of depression. Winter was wise; maybe she knew something.

Winter chuckled lightly and squeezed Lillay. "You know, you shouldn't give up on finding him... Maybe you just need to look closer to home..." she said.

Lillay blinked and pulled back so that she could look Winter in the eyes. "Do you know of him? I mean... I-is he living in Nadeshiko...?" she asked. She didn't want to get her hopes up. She just didn't want to be shot back down again.

Winter smiled. "I can't tell you that he is. I can just tell you that I know in my heart that you will see him one day," she said. She didn't want to ruin the surprise. She had been up about an hour before when Danny had come, grabbed a mission and then parted ways again, stating that he needed to keep his mind occupied at the time. She was surprised that they hadn't passed each other. Either way, Danny settled down in the guild every now and again, and he would come back and stay. It would be one of the best moments for both of them.

"H-have you met him before?" Lillay asked, rubbing at her eyes. She could feel Izzy clinging to one of her shoulders, just as she could feel the worry radiating from her. "He's got eyes and hair-"

Winter finished Lillay's sentence for her. "That remind you of fire..."

Lillay stared at Winter, all of the emotions swelling inside of her at once. He may not live in Nadeshiko and he probably wasn't in town anymore, but he was alive. He hadn't been killed by the dark mages all those years ago... "C-Can you tell me anything about him? When did you meet him?" She was still hurting because she couldn't see him, but she was fine with just knowing that if she tried hard enough, she would be able to see him again.

"I saw him just a few months back. He's been in town a few times, but he never stays long," Winter said. "He uses a magic that he calls 'Stitch Magic'. He fights with two lance-like sewing needles, though he can create more and of different sizes with magic. He can absorb the magic of others with his needles and make and reequip clothing that is resistant to the his opponent's magic. He can also sew things around the opponent or weave together magic he has absorbed to make weapons. He is quite the powerful mage, from my understandings..."

Lillay smiled. She hadn't imagined him to use a magic like that, but he must have learned it from somewhere. Her tears had stopped completely and she was able to relax a bit more. "Thank you, Winter-obaachan," she said, bowing her head slightly in respect. She felt so much better. She wondered if she should go out and search for him. Maybe he was close to town, even if he wasn't in town. "Does he visit the guild every time he comes to town?" she asked.

Winter nodded. "He does. He feels as if he is in debt to me so he often helps out the guild," she said. She wondered if she should feel wrong for lying to one of the guild members, especially one who hadn't been in the guild longer. She wanted Lillay seeing him and finding out that he was actually a member of the guild to be a surprise.

"Why is he in debt to you?" Lillay asked. Had she saved him? Even if it was five years ago, it didn't seem like the elderly woman would be able to fight. Now that she thought about it, she had never even seen Winter's magic. She wondered what it was. Winter gave off the air of an Ice mage, but then again, her name was Winter, so it could be a trick on the mind.

"I helped him out of a tough situation a few years ago," Winter responded, still smiling, thinking about how much he had grown. She loved to think about how much all of the guild members had grown. Soon, she found herself getting lost in her thoughts and didn't even hear Lillay talking.

"Winter?" Lillay questioned, waving a hand in front of Winter's face. "Ehhh..." she had asked if Winter could tell her next time Daniel was in town, but Winter was completely out of it.

"I love my children." Winter mumbled, walking off, completely forgetting that she was talking to Lillay.

"S-seriously?" Lillay's shoulders slumped and she felt ignored. If it was anyone other than Winter who had done that, she would have said something, but Winter was old, and she had helped her a lot with what information she had given her. Still, she couldn't help but to feel as though Winter wasn't telling her the complete truth.

* * *

"Candy Flames: Cupcake Explosion!" Kimi called out, spinning around and waving her white and pink staff, even though it did nothing to affect her Fire magic. Bright pink fire came from Kimi's hand and then shaped a cupcake around one of the enemies before exploding in colorful sparks.

"I told you four, I'm not coming home! I don't see why you won't accept that!" a small girl screeched, tears in her eyes.

Kimi, Mistere, Hikari and Cantrelle had been out on a mission for about a week now. The request was from a middle class family who's daughter had ran off to join a thieves' guild, stating that she had found herself to be in love with one of the thieves. It wasn't that hard for the girls to find the underground thieves' guild, but the problem was that the girl seen their guild marks and put the pieces together to realize that they were out to bring her back home. Now, the girls were fighting the entire gang of thieves who didn't want to let the girl go. Apparently, family was a thing, even in some of the scummy guilds.

"I'm sorry... Our mission is to bring you home!" Hikari called. With that, she placed her fingers under her chin and before her cheeks puffed out, she called "Roar of the Earth Dragon!" and belted out what looked to be a sand tornado, catching up most of the foes in the cyclone of earth.

Once the cyclone started to slow, Mistere stepped forward and with her fingers laced together below her chin, her eyes began to dance with flames as blue glowing wisps caught the falling thieves and sent them flying in every direction.

Kimi danced forward a bit. "Candy Flames: Sprinkle Attack!" With that, she threw her staff into the air like a baton and caught it just as small balls of pink flames appeared over all of the enemies and shot down at them. They disappeared when she caught the staff and she giggled.

"It smells like a bakery in here!" Cantrelle commented.

"That's Kimi's magic for you," Mistere commented, sniffing the sweet smelling air.

"Do you want to practice your songs?" Hikari asked, looking down at Cantrelle.

"Oh... Okay...Cover your ears..." Cantrelle looked nervous, but she stepped forward, her eyes narrowed in determination. "Song Magic: Sweet Lullaby!" she called before she started singing a soft sound that echoed through the guild hall that they were standing in.

Kimi, Mistere and Hikari did as told and watched as the injured thieves began to doze off. The girl that they were after started drifting off, but she did not fall asleep before Cantrelle's song ended.

"I'm not going with you!" she screamed again, stomping her foot into the ground, tears streaming from her caramel colored eyes. The girl was 14, according to her family, but she looked to be no more than 10. "You can just tell my family I'm dead!"

Kimi skipped over to her and she backed away. "You know, we all know what it's like to want to run away, but what are you runnin' from? Your family loves you~!"

"So? I love Darren, and I don't care what my family thinks!" the girl snapped, glaring at Kimi defiantly.

"Where is Darren right now, Abigail-chan?" Kimi asked, placing her hands on her knees and bringing her face down to the girl's.

Mistere, Cantrelle and Hikari had joined Kimi now.

The girl whimpered. "He's out on a mission..." she said.

"How does he treat you?" Hikari asked.

"Well... It doesn't matter. He's really handsome and strong. I bet you four couldn't get a guy as nice looking as him! He thinks I'm beautiful!" Abigail said, tossing her dark brown locks over her shoulder and sticking her nose up to the Silver Griffin mages.

"You know... Beauty's not everything," Mistere said. "And your family probably treats you better than he does..."

The door to the guild opened and instead of responding to Mistere, Abigail peered past them and her face lit up. "DARREN!" she squealed, causing the girls to wince at how high-pitched her voice became. She pushed past them and ran, diving into his arms.

The boy, who was cloaked in a black and blue robe, seemed confused. "Who...Who are you, kid?"

Abigail's eyes widened and she stepped back. "Wh-what? I'm the girl who at the shop you robbed a couple of weeks ago... You said I was too beautiful to harm after you attacked the shop owners..."

"Heh?" the boy arched a brow. "Why are you here?"

"I love you, Darren!" Abigail said, hugging him again. "Don't you love me?"

"You're like, ten, right?" Darren asked, frowning deeply. "Erm... Of course kids are too beautiful to hurt... I wouldn't hurt a kid..."

"YOU'RE LYING!" Abigail screeched, receiving grimaces from everyone who was awake in the room.

Darren's eyes landed on the Silver Griffin mages. "Are you here to make a request?" his eyes then landed on Hikari's guild mark, which was on her left cheek. "Wait... What's another guild doing here?" He then looked down and saw that all of his guild mates were battered and sleeping. "What's going on?"

"We're after her," Mistere said, gesturing towards Abigail. "She ran away from home because she's in love with you."

"And your guild mates got in our way," Hikari responded to the second part of his questions with her eyes narrowed.

Darren sighed. He walked over to Abigail and hugged her, making her smile. As he did so, he took a syringe out of his pocket and poked her in the neck with it. She instantly collapsed and he caught her, carrying her over to the griffins. "She's just sleeping. Take her back home and if she wakes up, convince her that she's a child who shouldn't be obsessed over things so petty as love."

Kimi took the girl and nodded. "Sorry we destroyed your guild," she said, bowing her head. She actually didn't know if thieves' guilds were illegal. She got her answer soon after, though, as a bunch of guards burst through the doors.

"Is the girl safe?" One of them half-asked, half barked.

"Ehhhh," Cantrelle let out a small whimper and sunk behind Hikari. Normally, she was brave, but there were a lot of guards and they were in a thieves' guild, so what if they ended up getting wrongly accused?

"Yes, sir," Kimi responded. "She was putting up quite the fight and this man tranquilized her," she responded.

"Thank you so much, Silver Griffin mages... Because of your cooperation with finding the missing girl, we were also able to track down this guild... .And it looks like you did a fine job of taking down most of the members," he said, bowing his head.

"I'm sorry about this, mages," Darren said, stepping forward. "I'm not going to let my guild be taken down, though..." His eyes, which were normally ink colored began to flash purple and his body began to distort, parts of it becoming spirit-like.

Hikari summoned her flute scythe and put it to her lips, but it was too late. The world around them began to distort and twist, the colors morphing into dancing shadows. Hikari attempted to play her flute, but it vanished. She attempted to pump magic into her hands even though Darren was no longer in sight, but it didn't work.

"What's going on?" Mistere asked. She had also attempted to use magic, but to no avail. "Darren! Show yourself!" She couldn't see the guards anymore, either and she looked to her right to see that Kimi was blinking in and out of existence as well. It wasn't dark or scary, just blurry. "Kimi-chan!" she grabbed her friend by the shoulder.

Hikari placed her hand on Kimi, too. She wasn't sure why she did it. She just felt that if they were all touching, they wouldn't lose track of each other. She had never seen a magic like this. It didn't feel like a dark magic, necessarily. Maybe it was an illusion.

"What's gonna happen?" Cantrelle asked. She noticed how they were all touching, so she wrapped her arms around Hikari's waist. She was scared, but she needed to be brave.

"This... We have to be strong!" Kimi said. Her mind was feeling faint. She could barely even see any of her teammates anymore. What was this magic?

Darren suddenly reappeared. "I will not hurt you five... Do not fret," he said. With that, five moths came from behind him and flew at each of the girls.

"Tch!" Hikari didn't have time to move before the mouth flew into her face and she blacked out.

* * *

"Magic... Strong magic," Jared mumbled. He could feel a strong magic presence near them. He and Stark had taken a small mission just to pass the time, and now they were returning to Silver Griffin, though they weren't close to the guild, yet. The presence was tugging at the back of his mind, though. "We should look into it," he said. He was curious to know about the magic.

"Hey, what's going on?" Stark asked, catching up to him. "You spacin' out or somethin'?"

Jared could also feel something else... Was it emotional despair? His walk turned to a sprint, as he wanted to see whatever was going on. He stopped in a clearing where four figures lay, motionless, and a man was holding a fifth figure. He recognized the guild mark on the shoulder of the small girl that he was carrying.

"What the hell are you doing with our guild members?!" Stark had caught up to Jared and had noticed the guild mark as well.

The guy arched a brow. "I have not harmed them," he said, placing the girl on the ground beside the other girls. "You can return with them to your guild. They will be fine, though I have drained some of their magic..."

The emotional despair was from the girls. They had been fighting. All of them had dark circles under their eyes like they were tired. "He's lying," Jared mumbled calmly to Stark.

"Don't just charge in, Stark," Terra warned, though she was ignored as usual.

"Stone Dragon's Solid Claw!" Stark shouted as his arms were coated in thick gray stone and he crashed his arm into the guy's mid-section, sending him flying back.

"I told you that you could just leave with them..." the man growled, landing on his feet and rubbing his stomach. "Distortion: Magic Release!" he said, raising his palm.

Stark wasn't sure how to dodge the magic, as he didn't see it. Suddenly, he felt as if a chunk of his magic energy was just ripped from him and he gasped, surprised.

Jared let out a sigh. "Shadow Entangle," he said. His hand began to emit a black aura and the man was wrapped in tendrils of darkness.

"Distort: Magic!" Darren called. He distorted the tendrils and freed himself from them.

At the same time, Stark jumped at him with his leg coated in solid stone, ready to smash the opponent into the ground.

"Distort: Location!" Darren called.

Stark gasped as he was teleported. He didn't have time to stop his attack before his leg sent Jared to the ground.

Jared let out a painful grunt that was silenced as Stark fell on top of him. He placed his hand flat on the ground and breathed out, "Dark Wave..." His magic sent a pulse of darkness towards Darren.

The pulse hit him and stunned him for a moment, causing him to cry out in pain.

Stark smirked, thinking that they had gotten the upper hand. He scrambled to his feet, but just as he was getting close to Darren, all of the girls were lifted into the air, moths flying around them.

"If you move, I will kill them," Darren hissed, his eyes darkening. It was obvious by his troubled breathing that his was injured, but still, Stark froze, and Jared, who had climbed to his feet, did as well. "My moths will devour their flesh... I think you care for them, right?" This wasn't his original plan; he wanted to use the same technique that he had used on the girls, but it consumed a lot of magic, and after the amount that he had fought with the two guys, he didn't have it in him.

"Don't do anything stupid, Stark!" Terra called. She trusted him, but he could be reckless and she was worried, her eyes on the girls who were floating in the sky, their bodies limp. She wondered if they were even alive and the thought made her stomach churn.

Stark stood completely still, but his magic was boiling. "Don't think you're gonna heard a member of my guild, you bastard!" he growled.

"Stark..." Terra's heart was beating fast. He couldn't be stupid enough to get the girls killed.

Jared remained calm, but his eyes were focused on Stark. What were they going to do? This guy's magic worked quickly. He wasn't sure if their magic would work faster than his. He was trying to analyze the situation, but the magic that Stark began to emit distracted him.

Stark was now covered in scales made of stone, and the earth around him was cracking under the pressure. He didn't move, though. The girls began to glow and almost instantly, they were encased in stone.

"My magic's been negated...?" Darren's eyes widened, but he didn't have the time to think about it more than that because Stark's fist collided with his face, sending him flying back into the air, blood splattering from his mouth.

Jared moved quickly and appeared behind Darren and punched him in the back of the head with a darkness covered fist.

Stark intercepted Darren and kept him from landing on the ground by throwing his stone fist into his stomach, letting out a fearsome growl as he sent the man flying back into the air.

"Darkness Grab!" Jared called and with his arm cloaked in darkness, he reached out, his arm extended with magic, and grabbed Darren from out of the air flung him to the ground.

Stark stood over the battered, unconscious thief and growled. "Your lucky you're not beaten more than you are," he hissed, his eyes dark. He then turned and looked up at the stone enclosures that held the females. He let them slowly sink to the ground and dissipate, leaving the females lying on the ground.

Jared walked over to them and checked their pulses, relieved that they seemed fine. He deemed that it must be magic exhaustion that was keeping them unconscious.

Stark and Terra joined him with the girls. "Are they okay?" Stark asked. His scales had disappeared now, and he looked just a bit worn out.

"They're fine... Whatever he did to them took most of their magic away, I think," Jared explained calmly. "I think we're going to have to carry them..."

"Who is the young girl with brown hair? I haven't seen her around and I don't see a guild mark on her anywhere," Terra floated next to Abigail.

"I dunno," Stark shrugged. At the same time, he picked up Abigail over one shoulder and Hikari over the other, trying to be gentle with them. "We'll ask when she wakes up," he said, a boyish grin returning to his face. "We messed that guy's day up, huh?"

Jared nodded in agreement, taking Kimi over one shoulder and Mistere over the other.

Terra lifted Cantrelle up and turned to Stark and Jared. "What are we supposed to do? It's gonna take us a few nights to get back to Nadeshiko, and I don't know what a hotel would say if we tried to check in carrying a bunch of unconscious women."

"We have a few hours of daylight left. I think it's best to just travel and hope that they wake up, because it doesn't appear that they have camping supplies, either," Jared said.

* * *

Nightfall came and the first girl to stir was Hikari..She let out a small groan and wiggled before her eyes shot open. "Let me go!" she snapped, smacking Stark in the back of the head.

"OW!" Stark yelped, glancing over at her. "What was that for?"

"Stark...?" Hikari's eyes became shrunken and confused and she stared at him. She then looked around, noticing that he was also carrying Abigail and that Jared and Terra were carrying the other girls. She felt weak, like her magic had been drained, but she couldn't recall what had happened.

"Yep," Stark responded. "Can you walk?" he asked.

"Think so," Hikari said, slipping from his arm and landing on her feet. Her head spun from lack of energy, but she managed to start walking. "What...What happened?" she asked.

"Some guy had you five all knocked out and stuff. We kicked his ass though," Stark said, grinning. "Oh, and by the way, who's this girl?" he said, lifting the shoulder that he had Abigail on slightly to show who he was talking about.

"Hmmmm..." Hikari rubbed the back of her head and then sighed. She could vaguely remember being in a thieves' guild and rescuing Abigail, but everything after that was blurry. "Oh... Her name is Abigail... He have to take her back Snow Drop town..." she said... "To complete our mission..."

"We won't reach Snow Drop until tomorrow," Jared said, realizing that Hikari was probably worried as to whether or not they had passed the town.

"Okay..." Hikari said, letting out a small sigh of relief. She then turned and looked to the others. Had they all been drained of most of their magic, too?

Mistere was the next one to awake. She didn't stir much, but instead just opened her eyes. When she realized that she was being carried, she attempted to use her wisps to fight whoever was carrying her, but failed due to lack of magic. She groaned at the wave of dizziness that coursed through her body.

"You're awake," Jared stated. "Sorry about carrying you like that..." he said. He then slowly put her down, in case she was too weak to walk.

She stood, though. "What happened?"

Hikari explained what happened and then they began to walk in silence, waiting for the other girls to wake up.

Cantrelle and Abigail woke up next, and once everything was explained, they calmed down and began to walk. Cantrelle and Hikari talked briefly, agreeing that the incident wouldn't be mentioned to Winter.

Kimi was the last to wake up, and she instantly began squirming, kicking Jared repeatedly in the abdomen. "Lemme go! I don't have magic, but I can still hurt you if don't!" She didn't actually give Jared time to let her go before she continued to kick and punch him. He instantly dropped her when she pushed herself up and sunk her teeth into his shoulder.

She landed on her feet and spun around. "See, I'm strong!" she said, smirking. Once she was done twirling, her eyes landed on Jared and her face began to match her pink hair. "A guild mate...?"

"What kind of mage bites someone when they're in peril?"Jared asked, rubbing his shoulder. He could think of a multitude of reasons why a mage would bite someone, though. There were plenty of magics that gave enhanced teeth or animal-like features.

"You must have saved me!" Kimi instantly jumped to conclusions as she couldn't imagine any other way that she would be unconscious and then wake up with a guild mate helping her. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly before giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you!" she said, giggling.

"Ehhh..." Jared's cheeks flushed. "Not a problem." he murmured, a bit quieter than usual.

Kimi turned and noticed that Stark was there too and gave him a hug, though she didn't kiss him as she had Jared, which was something that the dark magic mage took note of in a rather embarrassed manner, not saying a word.

* * *

"YOU LET HER GET INJURED?!" Winter bellowed, her cold eyes locked on Kimi, Hikari,and Mistere.

"It's just a scrape!" Cantrelle insisted. They had completed their mission, receiving praise from the couple and promise that the couple would advertise their guild for them. They had recovered from their loss of magic over the days that they traveled back to Nadeshiko, but on the way to the guild, Cantrelle had fallen and busted up one of her knees. Winter had noticed as soon as they walked through the guild doors, before they even declared that they were back.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?!" Winter continued to shout, completely ignoring Cantrelle. The guild hall was silent and those who were present were watching with nervous expressions on their faces. Jared, Stark and Terra had walked in with them, but they had literally been thrown to the couch by Winter's walking cane because they were in front of the three girls.

"We-We're really sorry, Winter-sama!" Mistere stammered, hoping that referring to the guild master in a more formal tone would help their case some. "It was an accident!"

"Yeah, Winter-sama, it was an accident! It won't happen again!" Hikari chimed in.

"Please don't eat us, Winter-sama!" Kimi begged, her fingers laced together in front of her face, her eyes shut tightly.

Winter glared at them, and they began to freeze over with her magic-absorbing ice. She beat them each in the head with her walking cane, causing them to let out little squeaks of pain and fear. "You three are hoodlums! Your punishment... Oh-ho-ho-ho..." Winter smirked menacingly. "I want you to clean every nook and cranny of the guild hall. I want it to be sparkling! No magic!" Winter let up on her spell and the girls unfroze.

"That's all?" Kimi asked, her face lightening up, although she was receiving death glares from her two friends.

"No... Of course not," Winter's evil smirk returned. "You must wear... THESE!" The old woman pulled out three black and white maid costumes from what seemed to be nowhere, complete with a super-short skirt, low collar and platform shoes.

The three girls' jaws dropped in unison.

"Winter-obaachan is terrible!" Kimi cried out, tears in the corners of her eyes. "That skirt is too short!"

"I don't want to wear that..." Mistere uttered.

"Please don't torture us..." Hikari whined.

"You have to!" Winter snapped. "Or I'll freeze you solid and never let ya go on another mission again!" She shoved the uniforms into the girls' hands. "Now, go upstairs, change, and get to work. I'll know if you don't wear the uniform. I'll be watching!" With that, the guildmaster stormed off, grabbing Cantrelle and taking her upstairs to bandage her knee, despite the protest from the young girl.

Kimi stared at the uniform, a look of dismay on her face. "So pervy... It's such a short skirt..."

Mistere'e eyes were shaded as she stared at the costume. "...I don't like this..." she whimpered out.

"We're never gonna live this down..." Hikari sighed, glaring at the costume in her hands. "Winter is pure evil disguised as a kind old woman..."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Long chapter... D: Sorry. Please read the bold text in the first A/N if you didn't. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I had loads of fun writing it! C: I didn't expect the scene with Kimi, Mistere, Hikari, Cantrelle, Jared, Stark and Terra to be so loooonnnnggggg... I was tired when I wrote the last scene, so if it's terrible in terms of quality, that's why. I'm so sleepy right now. -_-;

Also, I know there's an Earth Dragon Slayer and then a Stone Dragon Slayer... I wasn't thinking about the fact that they were essentially the same thing when accepting characters. So, Hikari will be earth as in sand and dirt, and maybe even some nature, and Stark will be specifically just stone. ;A; Also, I really like Stark and Hikari, so I wanted to accept them. X_X

Anyway, leave a review if you want!

Oh, and a small note. My fiance may be buying me Animal Crossing: New Leaf tomorrow so if my updates slow a bit, that would be my reason. ^^;

**Review Responses**

La Maitresse' Dame – Thank you for the review! I needed a way to introduce them, and the only people I could think of that would have the manners to not destroy the town, and who were in town and hadn't been used that much were Marionette and Eira. Really sorry that her portrayal was a bit off! I'm gonna work on it. C:

Skye Marvell – Thank you for the review! I'm really flattered that you feel that way! ^/^ I'm so glad I did a good job with Lillay. Hopefully I did a good job with her more emotional side in this chapter, too. C:

Junior the Otaku – Thank you for the review! There are probably a couple too many dragon slayers in this story, but I like the characters, so hopefully people can look past that. ;A; I'm glad I did okay with Leo! C: And that spell will be scene, as will Lillay and Danny meeting, eventually. I don't want to show the characters at their strongest unless it's against a strong opponent.

LilTimy – Thank you for the review! And the girls are all a bit more feisty than Fairy Tail girls, apart from Erza and Mira. I like that, too. C: I'm glad you like my character interactions. C:

Rin Ice Miyako – Thank you for reviewing! You may vote, if you'd like. C:

StingIsNotHere – Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad I did good with Stark. Hopefully I did good with his more serious side, too.

Shadowssj12 – Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you like the comedy in the story. C: I hope I can keep it up. Comedy's not really my strong suite when it comes to writing. ^^;

LinkinParkTheKillersFan – Thank you for reviewing! I think it's romantic, too. Glad you liked the chapter. C:

Nicky Azure – Thank you for reviewing! I may write something with them pestering Azura and she kicking them or threatening them with her katanas or something. XD I'm glad you like Gwen and Lillay. C:

Fairytailwolf6 – Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad I did a good job with Kai. I'm really sorry that he wasn't in it too much. I have some stuff planned for him, though, so don't fret!


	7. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **Thanks for reviewing and reading everyone! I've hit over 50 reviews and I'm so happy! Thanks so much everyone. C: I'll keep writing and thinking of stuffs to write, and taking ideas from you guys. :) Anyway, enjoy. Please read bold stuffs as usual.

Also, thank you all to the ones who have been giving me ideas and helping me to get a better grasp on your characters!

*****PLEASE READ: REGARDING HISTORIES OF SOME CHARACTERS*****

**Okay, so I've thought about it as I've been planning, and I need some of the characters' histories to be altered. Namely some of the ones who involve a canon character or one or two that involve dragon slayers and their dragons disappearing. I need the histories to sync up with the fact that the 7 year time skip did happen and Silver Griffin was not frozen for seven years. I would like you guys to fix this, if you don't mind. You can either edit your characters' age or history. Or, if you don't want to fix it, you can tell me that I can, and if you haven't gotten back to me by the time that I get ready to reveal the character's history, I will tweak it. **

I'm so sorry for this but the more I think about it, the more I realize that it wouldn't make sense for me to make this AU and take out the time skip. I mean, I would have to age some people down, and it wouldn't make as much sense for Rogue and Sting to look up to Gajeel and Natsu. If everyone is totally okay with me making it AU and just not addressing these issues, I can, but I find that it would be lazy to do that. ; n ;

In the end, it's still gonna be AU to an extent because some characters have pasts that involve canon characters, but I will try to get the canon characters as accurate as possible and they will have their normal history, apart from being involved with the OCs.

*****Warning*****

**This chapter has a good bit of language on it. To be honest, this is the last time I'll include this warning. If it involves Fame, Coyote, Azura or Monk, there is a good chance that there is gonna be some heavy language. I actually don't think I'm going to include warnings if it's something that would happen in Fairy Tail, because I assume that you guys watch Fairy Tail and are used to the perverted moments and mild language. **

**Credits:**

-The idea for Cantrelle getting injured and Winter getting mad in the last chapter was from iheartfairytail21.

-The idea for the argument between Monk, Fame, Azura and Coyote was from starblack17.

-The idea for the scene with Gabe and Ikaros was from LilTimy.

I promise that I have ideas of my own, I just like to do suggested ideas first, providing that they can be done in this arc or without further character development.

* * *

CHAPTER SIX

"Azzzzzzzzuuuuuuurraaaa!" A female voice whined out, just as Azura, Coyote, Fame and Monk entered the guild hall, returning from their mission. A pale blue Exceed, dressed in a navy blue dress and a yellow ribbon, tackled Azura and buried her face into her chest. "Why... Did... Why did you... F-forget about meeeeee...?" the Exceed whined.

"You wouldn't wake up. I wasn't waiting all day for you, Artemis," Azura responded, hugging her Exceed partner, whom she had left sleeping in their home while she went away on a mission for a little over a week.

"F-Fame didn't forget Nikko..." Artemis whined.

"I'm sorry..." Nikko whimpered, clinging to Fame's shoulders and hiding behind him."I... I... Fame... Carries me... Even if... I'm asleep..."

"Why can't... You be nice like Fame?" Artemis whimpered.

"Nice like Fame," Azura snorted. "That's a riot."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Fame snapped.

"I'm pretty sure if you were nice at all, Fame, you'd shrivel up and die," Monk said, chuckling. "Same goes for you, Coyote."

Coyote scowled. "No need to be nice," he said, turning his head away from the group. He had no interest in even trying to prove that he could be nice, because, well, he didn't want to be nice.

"I can be nice," Fame said, flipping his hair and folding his arms across his chest.

"Then do it," Monk challenged. "Compliment Azura right now. Say something really sweet."

Fame's eyes turned to dots and a sweat drop formed on his head. "Why the hell would I do that, you bastard?" his astonishment turned to anger and her shot daggers through Monk with his eyes.

"See, you can't do it!" Monk said, bursting out laughing. "You and Coyote literally cannot be nice. How do you ever expect to get women like that?"

"Can you really not say anything nice about your teammate?" Azura fake pouted, rubbing her hand down Fame's forearm, a deviously flirtatious smirk on her face.

Fame backed up and flipped his hair. "Back off, you," he said. He was somewhat used to Azura's flirting and knew it was just for fun, so he had no intentions of wasting his energy on her.

Coyote scoffed. "Not like a need a damn woman anyway," he said, shrugging carelessly.

"Oh, please. Not like you have to be nice to get a woman," Fame said, his voice coming out in an arrogant purr.

"Only so long that a woman would put up with that attitude of yours. Good looks only go so far, man," Monk said, patting him on the back.

A tick-mark appeared on Fame's head and he growled at Monk. "Whatever. What do you know? I don't see girls flocking you!"

"So?" Monk retorted. "The Monk doesn't need girls to be flocking him. He'll win the heart of the most amazing girl in the world one day."

"And who is that?" Azura asked, taking interest that her teammate may have a crush on someone. She had never seen him with any girl... Well, there was Nezuko, but they didn't really talk. Just argued. And she had seen the girl treating a lot of other people of both genders the same way.

"The Monk doesn't know yet," he responded, folding his arms across his chest. "He only knows that she will be the most amazing girl in the world."

"Tch," Fame snorted. "There's no way the most amazing girl in the world would like anyone other than me. I don't know what you're talking about."

"And who do you consider to be the most amazing girl in the world?" Azura asked. She was pretty sure that the two were just arguing now, but she didn't care. She couldn't imagine any of her teammates dating, when she thought about it. What kind of girl would be able to stand them? Her eyes narrowed at the thought that she put up with them almost every day, and often times even shared hotel rooms with them. She definitely did not like any of them, though!

"I don't know. She has to have a lot of blue, though. Blue makes someone amazing," Fame said. As he spoke, he made his blue lightning surround his fist and the corner of one side of his lip twitched upwards.

Azura tried to think of someone who had lots of blue on them, and she knew that she had seen someone with blue hair and blue clothing, but she couldn't think of who it was.

This was an argument that Coyote wasn't getting into. He wasn't going to argue that he would get the most amazing girl because he had no interest in dating at all.

"The most amazing girl isn't going to be defined by a color. She's got to be able to hold her own in battle and not super girly," Monk argued.

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about," Fame snapped, flipping his hair out of his eyes again.

"They can argue about anything..." Azura whispered to Artemis,who giggled and nodded in agreement.

"Dammit! Would you two just shut the hell up?!" Coyote growled once they had been arguing for a few more minutes. They were getting on his nerves.

Fame and Monk had had their foreheads pressed to each others' and there was static in between them.

"What's gotten into you?" Monk asked. Normally, Coyote would be arguing with them, right? "Don't like romance? Is it too nice for such a mean guy as yourself?"

"Go burn in hell," Coyote snarled.

"Okay, okay. Romance isn't your thing," Monk said, holding up his hands defensively.

With that, they were quiet for the moment that it took them to get situated at a table with drinks in front of them.

Monk smirked and then leaned over the table. All of his teammates' eyes were on him. "You know, we've been working together for a really long time... Most people probably recognize us as the most awesome team in this guild, so why don't we come up with a team name, so that people will really remember us?"

"What do you mean, a team name?" Azura asked, titling her head to the side in question. She thought for a moment. No one in Silver Griffin did that, though there were a couple of teams who did it in other guilds, like Shadow Gear, the Raijinshuu, and the Twin Dragons of Saber Tooth... It could be a nice idea.

"Yeah. Why don't we go by the "Nation of Salvation" or something like "Goodwill Macho Men"?" Monk asked, smiling confidentally.

"I'm a girl, you bastard! And we aren't all monks!" Azura barked, smacking him out of his chair. "I think we should go by Lethal Blades or Lunar Daggers?" She suggested, standing on Monk's chest so that he wouldn't get up.

"Like hell! None of us apart from you even use blades!" Fame lashed out. He stood, placed his hands on his hips and flipped his hair out his eyes. "How about something like Heavenly Blue or Thunder's Roar?" he suggested.

"We don't use lightning, you dumbass!" Coyote snapped, kicking him in the ribs, causing him to topple over. "If anything, we should be something like the Tribal Fangs or maybe Primordial Wolves," he said under his breath.

With that, fighting between them broke out, everyone apart from the Exceeds throwing punches and kicks.

Artemis and Nikko jumped to another table. "If anything, I think we should be the Catastic Six," Artemis commented, folding her arms over her chest.

"I... I think that... Would be nice," Nikko stammered out in a meek voice.

"Hey, you four!" Kimi's voice called. They stopped fighting and their eyes widened at the sight of the Candy Flames mage in a very perverted maid costume.

"What... Happened?" Azura asked through her giggles. "Why are... You... Wearing that?"

"Winter-obaachan is already in a bad mood. If you fight, you four may end up in these, too," Kimi said. Her cheeks matched her hair again.

Coyote, Monk, and Fame's eyes turned to dots and sweat covered their foreheads. They didn't put it past the guild master to make them wear that so they dusted off the table and then hurriedly sat down, acting completely innocent.

Azura sat down as well. "What did you do?" she asked, horror in her voice.

Kimi held the ends of the skirt down as she spoke, not even wanting to be around guys. "My team took Cantrelle-chan on a mission and she fell and got a scrape on her leg..."

"Seriously?" the other four mages said in unison, disbelief in their voices.

Kimi nodded, her face turning an even darker shade of pink. "Hikari-chan and Mistere-chan are in them, too, but I lost to both of them at a game of rocks-papers-scissors and so I've got to clean the main floor while they're upstairs..."

"Do you need something to put around your waist or something?" Azura asked, feeling sympathy for the girl, even though she rarely spoke to her.

"We can't... Winter will know and we'll get in trouble," Kimi sighed. "I'm going to go, if that's okay. It's really embarrassing to be around guys," she said. With that, she quickly walked off, still holding her skirt.

"So... No team name?" Azura asked. She was no risking being put into one of those outfits.

"Nope," the three guys responded to her. They weren't even going to think about it.

* * *

"You know... You can be really oblivious sometimes, Ikaros," Gabe said, tucking his arms behind hid head. They were out, though they weren't on a mission, but instead just enjoying the nice fields that were west of the guild hall. It was peaceful, and there was a forest nearby. The air smelled of flowers. Gabe had convinced himself that he was going to tell Ikaros how he felt. He was going to get it through her thick skull. Sighing, he continued to speak. "I really like you, though. I thought you were pretty back when I met you at your job all those years ago... Pretty's really an understatement. I thought you were... Heart-stopping... I... Erm... I think you're really awesome... I mean, you're strong and cute and pretty much everything that someone could want in a guy... I mean... I... I love you, Ikaros..." He said everything in a shaky, voice, often stumbling over his words. Letting out a final sigh, his cheeks flustered, he looked over to see Ikaros's reaction.

"Of course..." he coughed out, his heart sinking. She wasn't there. She must have ran off, distracted by something small, like a butterfly or a cute wild animal. He looked around and frowned when he didn't see her. "She could be anywhere," he sighed, sadly. Another confession ruined.

* * *

"Come back!" Ikaros called to the small, pale blue butterfly that she was chasing. She looked like a little kid, being as she was only four feet tall and chasing after a butterfly with sparkling eyes and a smile on her face. She had heard Gabe say something to her, but her eyes had been on the butterfly and she had already forgotten what he had said. He wouldn't mind, though. He could just tell her again.

"Little human girls shouldn't wander off alone," a deep, growl of a voice said. The ground shook as a giant ogre appeared. He was green in color, with hairless skin, large ears, and a skirt of leaves covering his pelvic region. He had dark eyes and a crooked grin on his face. One of his large hands would probably fit around Ikaros two-if not three- times.

"Heh?" Ikaros watched the butterfly flew behind the ogre and then stared up at the Ogre. She held out each of her hands and the rocks that were near her began to glow. "Change magic: Dual Sabers!" she called. The rocks turned into orbs of magic, flew towards her hands and then turned into two simple sabers.

The ogre blinked, a look of confusion on his face. He seemed to be questioning how her magic worked.

Ikaros jolted into the air and spun, slashing the ogre repeated with the blades until he fell to the ground. The tiny girl released her magic, letting the sabers turn back into the rocks and return to their places and landed on the ogres back. She reached up and cupped her hands around the butterfly, which had settled on a low branch. She seemed completely unfazed by the fact that she just took down and was now standing on top of a giant ogre. She was also completely oblivious to the fact that another ogre was coming up behind her.

"Little human girls shouldn't mess with ogres!" the ogre roared just as he scooped Ikaros up in his giant hand and smashed her into a tree, which toppled on impact.

Ikaros didn't even have time to let out a sound before she was knocked unconscious by the impact.

* * *

Choosing to go on a mission alone was definitely a stupid decision. Stupid, weak Gwen. At that moment, she was cornered. She wasn't sure who the man was, but he was terrifying. He had blue eyes that reminded her of someone in the guild, though she couldn't think of who, and blond hair with black ends. He looked so familiar, but Gwen wasn't sure why.

He used magic that summoned black weapons that glowed with a red aura and he was a quiet man. He had attacked her countless times already, and she was shaking from the amount of pain she was in. She had tried to analyze his magic, but for some reason, the Technician Analysis wasn't reading it. She was down to her last lacrima, and it didn't seem that she was getting anywhere.

"You could just come with me... You know... You're gonna die if you don't," he mumbled under his breath. He summoned a battle ax as he spoke and stepped forward.

Gwen activated her last lacrima, taking in Leo's magic. "Technician: Cannon!" she called, catching a glowing blue bazooka-type gun as it fell from her Technician screen. It seemed digital, with numbers and text dancing across it, informing Gwen of whose magic had made it. "Fire!" she called, shooting out a large bullet of magic at the man.

He slashed through it with the ax and sighed. "You know, I do hope that all of your guild mates aren't as weak as you," he spoke in a mockingly sad voice. He walked forward, obviously not putting effort into trying to hurt her. "Are you sure you don't want to come with me?"

Gwen whimpered and turned her cannon into a long whip. "I... I... I'm... Not..." she said, letting out a small hiccup of a sob, tears glazing over her eyes. "I'm... a griffin... I..." she backed up and fell to her knees as the man was standing right in front of her. "I'd rather... I'd rather you kill me than go with you..." she spoke under her breath, letting her whip disappear. She had given up. She had went through six lacrima without putting a scratch on him. There was no way she was winning this. She had been supposed to go on a mission with Emery, Lillay and Sharon, but she had been caught up in a book and turned them down. However, she realized afterwords that her funds were low, so she had taken a small mission that she had already completed . The man had appeared out of nowhere and said that he was taking her, but he didn't say where. She had tried to fight, but he was too strong. "...Someone... Help..." she mumbled.

Just as she said that, there was a flash and the guy was on the ground. There was a dark-haired girl and an Exceed standing in front of her, and the girl's fist was glowing with pure magic. There was no alignment to her magic, which made Gwen a bit confused at first. She stared and when she noticed the cross hanging from the Exceed's ear, her eyes widened. "Ice...?" she breathed. She had never really met Ice. She only knew her from examining traces of magic from the guild. She had found that Ice's magic was pure magic, and she had asked Winter about it, finding out that Ice was the Magic Dragon Slayer, which had brought up a series of questions from Gwen. However, she had found that it wasn't necessarily as god-like as it had seemed. She could only eat pure magic, like the Etherion, unless she wanted to get sick, and she could only manipulate and work well with Ice and Water magic, as well as Weapon Summonings. This had brought relief to Gwen to know that it didn't exist the possibility-to her knowledge-of a Dragon or God Slayer that could devour all magic. However, Winter had informed her that Ice was a strong, S-class mage who didn't work with anyone other than her Exceed partner.

"Oh, look. You do have to have backup," the man teased, pulling himself to his feet and smirking. "I bet this one is just as weak, though."

Ice let out a small sound that was something in between a snort and a laugh. She summoned her scythe and moved in the blink of an eye, slashing through the man. She then whirled around and kicked him in the back of the head, her leg ablaze with magic.

Cross stood beside Gwen and watched. Though she didn't communicate with the her, Cross was examining her and making sure that she didn't have life-threatening injuries.

The man rolled back and summoned a large crossbow with his magic and then shot an arrow out at Ice.

Ice blocked with her scythe and then sprung forward onto her hands, kicking him hard in the jaw with one leg, and then swooping down to kick his legs out from under him. As he was falling, she threw a fist into his gut and then somersaulted backwards, unsummoning her scythe.

The man attempted to get back up but wheezed, blood seeping from the corners of his mouth. He fell down, unmoving, on the ground. "Entirely different league of enemy..." he wheezed to himself.

"Thank you!" Gwen said, climbing shakily to her feet, stumbling and then bowing her head. "I'm so sorry that you had to come save me, though..." she added.

"Hm," Ice shrugged off her thanks and looked to Cross. There seemed to be unspoken communication between them and after a moment, Cross spoke.

"Can you make it back to the guild on your own?" she asked Gwen.

Gwen remembered Winter's warning about Ice not being fond of people and nodded hastily. "I'll be fine!" she said. She wasn't sure if it was true. Her body ached and there was a wound in her side, the blood from it staining her sweater.

Cross took note of this when she turned to walk away. "If you get into any trouble, we'll come to help, but try to stay out of it, okay?" she said.

"Um, o-okay," Gwen said, smiling over her shoulder. She didn't want to be a burden on one of Silver Griffin's six S-Class mages, and the most anti-social one at that. Besides, if it was anyone besides her that was in the situation, they would be able to walk it off, right?

Ice watched Gwen for a moment, no emotions in her eyes. She glanced at Cross and telepathically told her, "She'll be fine. She's not that far from the guild and they'll tend to her wounds there."

Cross nodded in agreement and the two of them departed from Gwen's location, going off to continue their own mission.

Gwen could feel the tears stinging her eyes. She could deal with the physical pain, but she hated being called weak. Maybe she could research more spells that her magic was capable of doing. Or maybe she could just learn another magic. She didn't want to be weak. On top of that, she was going to have to go to Leo, even though she was beat up, and ask him to refill her lacrima again. Maybe she could learn Lightning magic. Maybe she could beg Fame or Leo until one of them trained her. Then again, when that make her a burden on them?

The next set of thoughts that crossed her mind was the questioning of why that guy had wanted her. She wasn't strong. She was useless as a mage, apart from knowing a lot about magic. Maybe they wanted to torture her until she told them all of the guild members' magics, so that they would have the upperhand when they attacked. Or maybe they wanted to use her as a hostage. Most of the people in the guild knew her because she liked to ask people about how they got their magic. She also spent more time in the guild hall than a lot of people because she rarely took missions unless someone invited her, because she didn't want to ask and be a burden on the mages that were so much stronger than her.

"Hey, are you alright?!" A female voice called, startling Gwen and making her pull herself from her depressing thoughts. She winced as the small jolt of surprise sent pain surging through the wound in her side. She turned to see Sara and Yuki sprinting towards her. She really didn't know much about either of them. She knew their magics, of course, and that they had joined the guild together and mostly worked together.

"I'm... I'm fine," Gwen said, smiling. She still had tear stains on her face, and there was a large bruise on her forehead that was starting to swell, so it was obvious that her words were fake.

"What-what happened?" Sara asked, her eyes widened. She recognized Gwen as a bookworm from the guild.

"You don't look good," Yuki said, his ears twitching and his tail swaying back and forth nervously.

"Well... I was attacked, but another guild member saved me," Gwen explained, tucking her arms behind her back and digging the toe of her slip-on into the dirt. When she looked down, she noticed that the blood coming from her wound was now seeping into her pants after covering all of the right side of her sweater and tanktop.

Sara's eyes widened further and she covered her hands with her mouth when she saw the blood.

Yuki stepped forward, but he didn't look quite as worried as Sara. "Can't you heal her, Sara?" he asked.

"I-I can try," Sara stammered. Gwen noted that both of them seemed to be younger than her. Then again, she wondered if they could even tell that, since she and Sara both appeared to be the same height, 5'2''. She held out her hands to Gwen's side, and they began to glow with wind circling them as she healed the wound that was in Gwen's side. It was a slow process, and it was obvious after about a minute, as the magic slowed down and Sara began to shake.

"Don't overexert yourself," Gwen said, stepping back."We're not that far away from the guild and what you've done should keep me going until we can get there and I can get someone to help me patch it up."

Sara let out a small, tired breath and nodded, dropping her hands back to her side. She was not yet efficient with her magic as she hadn't had that long to master it. God slayer magic was not an easy thing to master by any means.

Gwen had researched God Slayer Magic quite a bit as she was curious and heard that some would call it more powerful than Dragon Slayer Magic. She had found two traces of it within the guild, though both were weak and unrefined, meaning that the two who used them weren't the best with them. She began to research how one was to acquire the magic, because her initial thought was to be raised by a god, and then she realized that that was a ridiculous thought. She found that it was a Lost Magic and very few people had it. She found that it seemed to be more of a blood-line thing, but a recessive gene that the child had a very low chance of acquiring. It also seemed that the minds of some children who exhibited God-Slayer magic would slip, such was the case of a Fire God Slayer named Zanecrow. It was a hard magic to master and some of the children who exhibited the signs of it would never even use it because of lack of strength to use it. That was all the information that she had been able to find on it, and some sources refuted the information, but she always went with the most trusted sources for her research.

"Are you gonna be okay, Sara?" Yuki asked, wrapping an arm around her to make sure that she was able to stand. "Maybe we need to work on visiting Lamia Scale sooner so that you can train with Chelia," he said, a deep frown on his face.

"I know..." Sara sighed. She had intentions of going to find Chelia of Lamia Scale, who wasn't an expert at Sky God Slayer Magic, but who was fairly adept with it and ask to be trained. They were around the same age, so she figured that they would also be able to get along fairly well.

"Going to another guild to train..." Gwen mumbled. Lamia Scale was one of the bigger guilds, and the bigger guilds were full of strong mages. "Maybe I should visit Blue Pegasus one day..." she mumbled.

"Why would you visit Blue Pegasus?" Sara asked. In her mind, she could only think of the pretty boys and poster girls that always appeared in Sorcerer Weekly. While Gwen had the appearance to be one of them in her opinion, she didn't see Gwen as that type.

They started walking before Gwen began to talk. "Well, erm, Hibiki-san uses a type of magic called Archive Magic and that's similar to my magic, but Hibiki is always on Blue Pegasus's main team in the Grand Magic Games, so he has to be strong. I think I've seen him fight a few times, and he doesn't have to have electricity like I do..."

"I think that would be a good idea then," Sara said, smiling brightly. "I think becoming students of members of some of the bigger guilds would make Silver Griffin more known, too," she added.

"Who would I become a student of?" Yuki asked, his tail flicking back and forth. "I don't think there is anyone in any of the guilds who uses Fire Kitsune magic..."

"I've never even heard much about your magic before, to be honest," Gwen said. As she walked, she pulled up her technician screen and began to type in something. She found an article on Elemental Kitsune magic, but there wasn't much information and it didn't seem to be updated from the last time she had looked at it. It was apparently a magic similar to Dragon Slayer Magic as that it was often influenced by the presence of a kitsune, but the only stories of kitsunes were from the kitsune magic users themselves, so a lot of people believed it to be fake. However, Yuki resembled a fox, and so... Wouldn't it make sense?

"So, you don't think there would be anyone who could train me?" Yuki asked, looking at the screen with confused, yet curious eyes. "Eh? Is that your magic?" he asked.

Gwen nodded. "Yeah. I use it to research a lot, though I do like going to libraries and researching, too," she said.

"It's really neat!" Sara commented. "You're like a walking database."

"Yeah! I bet it helps a lot in battle!" Yuki said, his tail wagging.

Gwen laughed lightly, blush on her cheeks and nose. Being around energetic people made her feel energetic, and she had already forgotten the sadness that she had felt earlier.

They got back into town and Sara insisted on helping Gwen to get bandaged up, so they stopped by the house that Gwen shared with Nezuko. It was silent so Gwen assumed that Nezuko was probably out, as usual. The house was more of a place for sleeping and sometimes eating dinner or breakfast than anything. When it was too messy outside or they were too tired to be outside, they were usually in the guild hall.

The house that they lived in was themed with pastel green and pastel pink furniture, though there wasn't that much furniture. The house looked almost like a show-room because of how bare and clean it was.

After telling Yuki to sit down, Sara and Gwen went to Gwen's room, which pretty much looked like a library, with nearly every inch of the room covered in stacks of books. There was a small bed in the corner and an open wardrobe with books in the bottom of it, but apart from that, the room was barren of furniture.

Once Gwen was bandaged up and had changed into a baggy cream sweater and white shorts, they went back downstairs.

"We should go to check up on Seb-san and see if he started selling the Silver Griffin cookies," Yuki suggested, hopping up and grinning boyishly.

"Okay," Sara said. She then turned to Gwen. "Wanna tag along?" she asked. "That is if you feel okay," she added quickly.

"Sure," Gwen accepted the offer.

* * *

"Oh, Yuki and Sara have brought a friend!" Seb said, peeping out of the kitchen when the three entered the cafe, chatting. "All friends of Yuki and Sara are welcomed!"

Yuki and Sara bowed politely. "This is Gwen," Sara said. "She's a member of Silver Griffin as well."

"Oh, hello, Gwen. I am Seb!" he introduced himself. "Have a seat and I'm sure a waitress will be with you in a moment. I will also request that you each get a Griffin cookie on the house." With that, he disappeared back into the kitchen.

Gwen noticed that Sara froze up when the waitress greeted them, and she was confused, but she didn't question it until the waitress had seated them, taken their order and left. "That waitress was giving you some pretty mean looks..." she spoke in a low breath, facing Sara.

"Yeah..." Sara sighed.

"They don't get along very well," Yuki said.

Gwen pursed her lips together and tried to think of reasons why they didn't get along. She thought maybe Sara and her had a past, but wasn't sure that Sara had even lived in Nadeshiko all of her life.

When the waitress came back, she sat down their food in front of them and then smiled at Yuki. "Enjoy, cute fox boy," she said, smiling and walking off, seeming to walk with a stride that emphasized her curves.

Gwen questioned why some women liked to flaunt their looks around and then turned back to Yuki and Sara. Yuki seemed completely oblivious to everything but food and Sara was glaring in the waitress' direction. Jealousy. Sara must like Yuki. Her mind then went to what she would do if a girl actually flirted back with Leo and she blushed, as she figured she may be doing the same thing. She couldn't think that way about him, though. Nezuko had already scolded her again about it. She had to find someone who was nice. At least Sara was lucky in the aspect that Yuki seemed to be quite oblivious to flirting and probably didn't flirt much himself, either. Or, at least most oblivious people didn't flirt much in romance novels.

After a moment of thinking too hard and making herself feel confused with a pinching sensation in her heart, Gwen brought her train of thought to a halt and turned her attention to her food, beginning to eat.

Sara had taken notice of Gwen when she blushed and got this moment of cloudy sadness in her eyes and she was curious. Was she going through a jealousy issue, too? Maybe she would be someone to become friends with, if they had the same situation going on. Besides, she seemed really cheerful most of the time, and Sara liked those kinds of people.

* * *

**Author's Note: **This chapter took too long to write... :c I wanted to do something with Sara and Yuki and something with Ice, because I haven't used them that much, but I couldn't think of anything, so I just began writing and this is what happened. I didn't forget about Ikaros and Gabe, I did that on purpose. Why? Because I fail at suspense, that's why! :c

Also, with God Slayers, that's my explanation. I totally made that up. I couldn't find any history of God-slayer magic. It hasn't been revealed and that bothers me. So I made it up. ._.; I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, none-the-less. C:

**Review Responses: **

Thank you all so much for reviewing, first of all~ c:

**Junior the Otaku** – I'm really glad you like my battles. I find comedy and battles to be my weak points in writing, to be honest. Winter can be quite evil, hehe. But she loves the guild members, anyway.

Skye Marvell – Thanks for the really positive feedback. :D And I have the scene where they meet planned out. C:

**La Maitresse' Dame** – Yeah. I love romance, so I can't help but to hint at it. I'm trying not to push things along too fast, though. ; n ; I'm glad my writing doesn't bore you. I worry with long chapters sometimes. I try to speed along things that I think would be boring. I've actually gotten bad reviews for long chapters before. ; n ; I've gotten bad reviews for updating often, too. X_X As long as I don't get complaints and as long as I can, I will keep updating often. C:

**Lazyboredom1** – I'm glad that I did a good job with him again. :D

**LilTimy** – I'm glad you like it and I glad the update speed and chapter length doesn't bother you. C:

**LinkinParkTheKillersFan** – I actually thought about doing that. XD I thought about her making them get out in swimsuits and advertise the guild, but I think that's worse. At least they didn't have to leave the guild in the maid outfits. Glad you liked the chapter~

**Nicky Azure** – Yeah. I think any of the Silver Griffin girls would be devastated by having to be in something like that. XD No more pure introduction stuff, nope. :)

**FairyTailWolf6** – I'm glad you like the chapter. C:

**Hiragami Kotone** – I'm glad you enjoyed it! I was a bit worried that you would be annoyed that I tortured Hikari. XD

**shadowssj12** – I'm glad you like the fight scenes. I didn't even think of that woman. XD Winter is strong and knows only the worse forms of torture, so you should never upset her. XP


	8. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **Hi guys~ Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing. This arc is really random and doesn't have a central part apart from the guild getting popular and the characters becoming stronger, but there will be plots in the other arcs. Sorry if this arc bores you. It will end when I think I'm comfortable with the characters and feel that I've shown enough missions to end it. Enjoy the chapter~

The characters of the real anime/manga will appear in the story later. I do plan on actually having scenes with them, but unless they're talking about an OC, there will never be a scene with just them involved.

*****WARNING*****

Slight spoilers to the Grand Magic Games in the anime/manga in this chapter. Erm... It's in the first part.

* * *

CHAPTER SEVEN

"Hey, Lillay, are you okay?" Sharon asked, her attention turning to the Ice Dragon Slayer, who was clothed in only her bra and panties again. Sharon had noticed that she kept doing quirky things like messing with her hair and looking around. Her eyes were also distant, like she was lost in thought.

Lillay was silent as if she hadn't even heard Sharon.

"Lillay?" Emery turned and looked at the girl, waving a hand in front of her face. She didn't know her very well, but she definitely wasn't acting the same as when they had sparred in the garden.

Lillay's eyes began to focus and she blinked as if she had been in a trance. Sadness flashed in her eyes but was quickly masked. "Erm, what did you say?" she asked. "I was just thinking about some stuff."

"What's wrong?" Sharon asked. "You're all uptight and I'm pretty sure something pretty big is bothering you."

"Hm," Lillay shrugged and tucked her arms behind her head. "I dunno. I don't really feel up to talkin' about," she said. She was thinking about the fact that there was a possibility that Daniel would come to the guild for a visit while she gone. She hadn't wanted to go on the mission, but it was an easy lost and found mission and with three mages, it would be easy. Still, she wanted to see Daniel so bad it hurt. He was around. He was alive. It hurt so much, no matter how much she tried to tell herself that she was just happy that he was alive.

"Lillay..." Izzy spoke in a small, worried voice.

"Oh, well. If you change your mind, then just spill it," Sharon said, shrugging. She wasn't the type to pry. Lillay would tell them if she felt like it.

Emery nodded in agreement, but didn't say anything, not being the type to pry, either, especially with someone who she hadn't worked with or talked with that much.

"So, we just have to find the insects, right?" Sharon asked, wanting to change the subject and try to at least focus Lillay's mind elsewhere. Their mission was to go to a forest and find these beetles that apparently had magical properties. Apparently they were glowing and only existed in one forest that was in easy traveling distance.

"Yep," Emery said, nodding. "The forest where they live isn't far. We'll get on the train get there by nightfall. It'll probably be easier to find a glowing bug at night, right? So, we'll find the bugs and then find a place to stay or campout and then head back to the guild in the morning and get there by tomorrow evening."

"Sounds awe-" Sharon's words were interrupted by a loud groan from Lillay. Emery, Sharon and Izzy turned to her.

"How long would it take by foot?" she asked, frowning deeply.

Sharon and Emery looked dumbfounded. "Heh?" Emery tilted her head.

"Lillay is a Dragon Slayer," Izzy reminded them.

Suddenly, Sharon remembered one year of the Grand Magic Games where Sting, Natsu and Gajeel lost the beginning game of day 2 because it was a chariot race and they were motion-sick the entire time. She giggled at the thought of Lillay getting motion-sick and then felt bad. "Sorry..." she said. She looked at Lillay to see her glaring.

"I don't think it would practical to go by foot. It would take a lot longer and we would risk getting lost," Emery said. She had also recalled that Dragon Slayers suffered from motion-sickness and she knew that the train ride was going to be amazing... Not. Maybe she should try to mix a nectar medicine that would cure motion-sickness, she thought to herself.

"Fine..." Lillay grumbled. How much worse could this day get for her? She followed behind Sharon and Emery as they arrived at the train station and purchased their tickets.

They boarded the train and Emery and Sharon sat on side, while Lillay sat in front of them and collapsed, her face tinted purple, as soon as the train started moving. She bubbled out something about hating vehicles and then seemed to whine about something, but it was incoherent.

* * *

Emery was right and when they exited the train, Lillay hanging one arm on Emery's shoulder and one on Sharon's shoulder, it was dusk, the sky a mix of fading oranges and dark purples and blues. "The forest it about thirty minutes from here," Emery said. She had been to the forest a few times when she was young and she still remembered the way. She led them to a dirt path and they began to walk.

Lillay recovered and began to walk on her own. At least, if the beetles existed, it would be a pretty sight. Maybe it would make the day a bit better.

"EMERRRRRRYYYY-CHAN~~~" A loud male voice boomed, causing all three of the girls and Izzy to jump, startled.

Lillay and Sharon reacted by readying themselves for combat, but Emery grabbed each of them and pulled them back. She somewhat recognized the voice, but when she saw the man running towards her, she barely recognized him.

He was a tall man with broad shoulders and a gentle, happy face. His hair appeared to be almost white, but when the fading light hit it, one could see that it was really a very pale shade of blue. It was feathery and soft, covering his ears, forehead and neck, with the back brushing his back a bit and the sides going past his chin. His eyes were the same color as Emery's; bright violet. They were mostly round, with slightly slanted corners. He was dressed in an emerald green sweater, dark green pants, and white and green shoes. There was a pale green, knitted scarf around his neck and an older knitted bracelet made of threads that were multiple shades of green around his right wrist, worn over the sleeve of his sweater.

The man scooped Emery up and began to hug her tightly. "You're still so tiny and cute!" he said, laughing lightly.

Sharon and Lillay exchanged glances and backed away a bit to give Emery and her friend a bit of space.

"Nii-chan...?" Emery wheezed, barely able to breathe in his arms. She felt tears in her eyes, but she didn't want to let herself cry. She hadn't seen him in seven years. Where had he gone?

The man dropped him and turned to Sharon, Lillay and Izzy. "Are these your friends?" he asked. "My name is Adrian. I'm Emery's cousin, but I left Nadeshiko to clear my mind for a little while," he introduced himself, bowing. "You two are so cute!" he commented, grinning and bending forward a bit to make himself closer to the females' heights. "And you are, too, Exceed-chan!" he said, grinning at Izzy.

"I... don't like being called cute," Lillay mumbled, slightly annoyed with him. "My name is Lillay and this is Izzy..."

Sharon frowned, wondering if he was one of the guys like Leo. "I'm Sharon..."

"Wait..." Emery growled. "Did you just say you left to clear your mind for a little while?" she snapped. "It's been seven years. I barely even recognize you, you jerk!"

"Oh... I lost track of time," Adrian said, laughing lightly. He then looked at Sharon's arm and Lillay's stomach, noticing the guild marks. "Are you part of a guild, Emery-chan?" he asked, turning back to her. "Is it a mages' guilld?

"Yeah... What about you?" Emery asked. A part of her wanted to cling to him. He looked so soft and she had missed him, even if she hadn't expressed it to anyone other than Gwen. She didn't, though. She just stared up at him, feeling rather short.

"Nope. I've just been traveling here and there... Wait... Did you join that guild that you used to garden for?" he asked. He paused, humming as he tried to remember the name. "Silver Griffin, right?"

"Yep," Emery nodded.

"Are you a mage?" Sharon asked. He seemed so cheery, like he couldn't be serious enough to make it as a mage, but she was curious.

"Oh, yeah," he said. "Emery-chan and I use the same magic, unless she's learned something else," he explained. "I bet you are all really strong if you're in a guild. I probably wouldn't be able to hold up."

"Why don't you spar with one of us, then?" Emery asked.

Lillay instantly backed away. She really didn't feel up for a spar. She felt happy for Emery, but it made her long for Daniel even more. They had been separated longer than she and Daniel and they had found each other by coincidence. She just wasn't in the mood for anything at that moment.

"I couldn't hurt Emery and I don't think Lillay wants to fight," Adrian said.

"I'm up for a quick spar," Sharon said, smiling and jumping back, putting distance in between them. "Let's see what you've got!"

"Oh-kay!" Adrian grinned. "Jane's Song!" he called. Purple petals danced around him, glowing brightly with magic. He lifted his hand and they raced towards Sharon.

Sharon dodged with relative ease only to find that the petals followed her. "Air Magic: Air Whip!" she called, making a whip out of air magic and slapping the petals away. Her let out a small sound of surprise when the petals reformed and circled around her. Focusing, she surrounded herself in air and blasted herself through the petals. She dashed for Adrian and made a club out of air, hitting him in the back with, knocking him to the ground.

Adrian let out a cry of pain, but rolled over. "Jane's Reach!" he called. Thorned vines shot from his raised arms and wrapped around Sharon's waist. He threw her away from him, being fairly gentle with her compared to what he could do. He climbed to his feet and shook his head. "Ow," he whimpered.

Sharon climbed to her feet as well, her shirt now ripped up from the thorns. "And you said you couldn't hold up?" she asked. "I'm an S-Class mage, y'know?"

"I wouldn't doubt it," Adrian said. "Cute and strong? How amazing," he said, smiling.

"What's up with your attack names?" Sharon asked, completely ignoring his comment.

"Oh, they're named after my late mother," Adrian responded. "She died in an accident at the harbor about seven years ago. I wouldn't be anything without her, so I decided to name my magic after her."

"That's really nice..." Sharon said, though her voice had gone soft. It was sad, actually. He didn't seem to be hurting, though.

"Don't feel bad for me, please, Sharon-chan," he said. "I don't like people worrying themselves with me so how about we get back to the battle?"

"Oh, right," Sharon said, returning her focus to the battle. "Air Magic: Tornado!" she called. She held out her hand and a tornado began forming in it, spiraling quickly into a larger tornado. She threw it and it spun straight for Adrian. It was one of her stronger attacks, but she was starting to feel as if he was strong enough to go all out on.

He jumped, but not in time to get away from it. It caught him and slung him around, shredding bits of his sweater. "Jane's Reach!" he called. He shot a vine from his hand and buried it into the ground. He pulled himself forward and out of the vortex of wind. He then swung himself around on the vine and attempted to kick Sharon with both feet.

Sharon dodged and readied herself to use another attack, but Adrian shot another vine out from his side and grabbed her arms, lacing them together and hurling her into the air before letting his vine disappear. She realized then that he could probably shoot vines from any part of his body and noted to prepare herself for that. While still in midair from the throw, she lifted her hand to the sky. "Air Magic: Heaven's Ascent!' she called. A disk of air formed above her and as she landed, she landed on her hand and the disk shot at Adrian.

"Jane's Embrace!" He called as he coated himself in thick vines that protected him from the attack. Once the air dissipated, he dropped his guard. "We probably shouldn't drag this on too long. You all probably have something to do, right?" he asked, as he climbed to his feet. He was scratched up and his sweater was ripped up.

Sharon gained her composure and sighed. She was also bruised and her clothing was torn. It wasn't the battle that she was expecting and she wouldn't have minded continuing, but it could go on for a while, if they let it.

"We have to find the glow beetles that we used to play with when we came here," Emery explained. "They apparently have some magical properties or something..." Her voice was a bit distant as she thought of her aunt- Adrian's mom. It was so like him to name is attacks after her. He was always friendlier than her and a lot more affectionate. He used to get attached to every little thing that would let him hug it. It ended in him getting attached to a lot of people and animals.

"Ooohh," Adrian smiled brightly. "Have you three ever seen the glow beetles and fireflies?" he asked Lillay, Sharon and Izzy.

"I don't think so," Sharon said.

"Nope," Lillay and Izzy spoke together.

"It's beautiful," Adrian said.

Lillay and Sharon were broth thrown off when he didn't throw a compliment in with that, since most flirty men would take that as a flirting opportunity.

* * *

They soon found themselves in the middle of the forest, surrounded by neon blue and bright yellow and green lights that came from the beetles and fireflies. "The bright blue flashes are the things that you all are after," Adrian explained.

Sharon barely heard him as she walked around. They were in a clearing that had a few trees overhanging it. There were lots of flowers, so the scenery was nothing short of breathtaking. She wondered what it would be like for all of them to just lay in the grass and watch everything.

Lillay couldn't say that she had forgotten about her longings, but the sight did pull her mind from it. She reached up and caught one of the beetles, cupping it in her hands and watching as it flickered slowly and then fly away.

"It's so pretty," Izzy breathed, landing on top of Lillay's head and watching as the glowing insects seemed to make the sky dance.

"What makes them gather like this...? Or are they in this entire forest...?" Sharon asked.

Emery didn't know the answer. She had asked the same thing when she was younger, but she hadn't understood the answer very well back then. "Well, Nii-chan?"

"There's a plant that grows in the forest that they like. It grows well in this clearing though it's all over the forest," Adrian said. He then walked over to a cluster of plants that were under a tree and picked through them until he found the flower that he spoke of. It was a light purple flower with dark purple accents that had a glowing purple stigma. "It's called purple fire-root... Or that's what I've heard it called," he said. He bent down and picked two more, handing one to Lillay, Sharon and Izzy. He didn't do so in a romantic manner, necessarily, as he wasn't even thinking of it as a romantic gesture.

Both of the girls and the Exceed stared at the flower, watching it glow.

At the same time, Adrian and Emery began collecting the glowing insects in a jar that the girls' client had given them.

"This is amazing," Sharon spoke to Lillay.

"If it didn't involve traveling by train, this would be the perfect place to go after a stressful day," Lillay said. It made her feel at ease. Her bad mood began to break down and clear away and she felt as if it was time to be a bit more optimistic. If Daniel did end up at the guild, Winter would put in word that she was looking for him, and if he wanted to see her, he would wait. Things would work out in the end.

"I would love to come back sometime," Sharon said, her eyes going back up to the sky and the dancing, glowing insects that filled it.

"Me, too," Izzy said.

"What are you going to do after this, Nii-chan?" Emery asked. They had collected all the insects that were needed and would have to look for a place to stay, but she wondered what was going to happen to him. She wouldn't admit it, but she didn't want to part with him so soon.

"I don't know. Wander around and train, probably?" Adrian responded. He was never one to decide what he was going to do, really. He had been that way since he was 14, after his mother died. He had just lived day by day.

"Why don't you join the guild?" Sharon asked.

"I don't know if I wanna go back to Nadeshiko," Adrian said. He then blushed. "It's kinda embarrassing that you would think I'm strong enough to be in a guild, though."

"Of course you're strong enough to be in a guild. We use the same magic," Emery said, punching him in the shoulder.

His blush darkened. "Really... I'm not strong... I don't like being complimented, you know?"

"Still like that, huh?" Emery asked, placing her hands on her hips and sighing. "What's up with you and that?" Adrian had always been the type to dislike compliments more than to like them.

Adrian rubbed the back of his head. "...Mmmmakes me feel awkward..." he hummed out. "Though I do love complimenting other people, if they deserve it!"

"You're weird," Emery commented.

"You say that to a lot of people," Lillay pointed out.

"I'm surrounded by weirdos. I speak my mind," Emery said.

"I didn't do anything..." Sharon mumbled, fake hurt in her voice.

"Are you gonna join the guild?" Emery asked, completely ignoring Sharon and turning her attention back to Adrian.

"I said I didn't want to go back to Nadeshiko," Adrian responded.

"You should join the guild," Emery insisted.

"Eehhhhh..." Adrian hummed out. "I really don't want to go back..." he said, a sweatdrop on his forehead.

Emery thought of a thousand hurtful things that she could say that would guilt him into coming back, but she didn't want to. "Please...?" she eventually settled on, even though saying the word made her feel... Weak...

Sharon could see that Emery was struggling. "Silver Griffin could use another strong mage. You'd fit in perfectly," she said.

"Eeehhhh..." Adrian chewed at his lip. "I really don't know... I mean... I... I don't want to return... Please just let me go my way..."

Emery sighed. "What if I don't give you that option?" she asked, placing a hand on her hip, a deviant smirk on her face.

"Uhh..." Lillay wondered what she was planning.

"What are you talking about, Emery-chan?" Adrian asked. He heard as roots shot from the ground and jumped in the air, dodging them, though they shot after him. "Are-are you trying to tie me up?!" he called from the sky.

"Yes," Emery responded bluntly.

Sharon, Lillay and Izzy stared at her with their jaws dropped and their eyes shaded.

He used his own vines and destroyed Emery's roots before holding a glowing hand out. One vine shot out and caught Emery before she could dodge, tying her up. "I think I'm a bit faster than you. And I'm older and have been training longer," he said. He released her, receiving a death glare. "But I'll go. If you insist that much. I don't know how much I'll actually stay in town, and if you live in our old house, I will not visit you," he said.

"Fine," Emery said. "Be a jerk."

"Eh-?" Adrian let out a hurt squeak. "I'm... Not mean..." he whimpered. "Are we heading back today?" he asked.

"Nope," Emery said, a smug look on her face now that she had gotten her way. She looked childish and he was like the big brother who always gave into his little sibling. "We're gonna camp or find somewhere to stay."

"Okay! I know a place and I'll treat everyone to dinner!" Adrian said, smiling brightly.

Emery was okay with him paying, and Lillay and Izzy were okay with free food. Sharon opened her mouth to protest, but Adrian spoke again before she could.

"Follow me!" he said, heading out of the forest.

* * *

Something was wrong. She hadn't come back and she wasn't at the entrance of the forest. Where was she? He was starting to get worried. She could hold up on her own, but she was so unaware of her surroundings sometimes and she looked younger than what she really was so a lot of enemies underestimated her and attacked.

"Ikaros!" he called, once he had traveled a good ways into the forest. He knew that the forest was known for swamps, and he wondered if it would be possible the Ikaros ended up in one of the swamps. The thought sent terror pulsing through his heart, making his breathing speed up.

Gabe's eyes scanned the forest and he continued to walk forward. He reached a point where there was a fallen tree and he felt the remnants of magic. It was her magic. "What happened...?" he asked himself. She had most likely put up a fight with whatever she was up against judging by the damaged trees and the fact that the rocks seemed to be affected by her magic. He followed the faint trail of her magic to a swamp that had a den in the middle of it. Her magic faded at this point. He scanned the area.

The area was foggy and the swamp consisted of thick trees growing from murky water. The area was quiet for the most part, but Gabe could feel a presence in the den. That had to be where she was. He walked to the edge of the water and closed his eyes, thinking for a magic that he could copy long enough to prevent from having to submerge himself in the grime. He was worried, though, and his mind was racing, giving him problems thinking of anything. Sighing, he gave up and just began to walk through the murk, which went up to his chest at the deepest point. Ikaros would not be able to walk in this, he realized. He made it to the cave, and her heard two voices.

"What should we do with tiny human girl?" one voice asked.

"Don't know. Maybe we'll make her a servant so that it will be easy to get stuff from town," another voice said.

"That's a good idea," the first voice responded.

"Ikaros..." Gabe whispered. He needed a magic that could take down ogres easily. Or at least he assumed that they were ogres, since they didn't sound human and the forest had been rumored to be home to ogres. He could copy and become an ogre, but that may end badly, since he didn't know if he could deal with such a drastic body change. So, he decided that he would probably just do good with a massive strength enhancement. He did better when he saw the magic in front of him, but he could copy magic from memory. So, recalling the times that he had seen Coyote fight, he copied his Animal Seith: Gorilla magic, giving himself a strength boost.

He entered the small den and attacked the ogres with strength enhanced punches and kick.

"Another human?" one of the ogres growled out. He swung his hand at Gabe, who dodged.

The other ogre glared at his friend. "Don't fight inside the house!" he barked. "You'll destroy it. It's just a human boy. He won't do much harm."

"What are you talking about?! What does it matter? It's a den made of branches!" the first ogre snapped.

"It's still a home!" the second ogre snapped.

While the two ogres were bickering, Gabe looked around and saw that Ikaros was laying on the ground at the back of the den, unconscious. She had a lot of bruises on one side of her body, and her head was busted open with blood trickling down her temple. His jaw locked into a scowl and his teeth ground together when he saw this. They had hurt her! For a moment, he had considered being sneaky and getting her and then leaving without hurt the ogres home, but now he didn't care. With a growl, he was in the air, crashing his fist in the head of one ogre and his leg into the face of the other ogre. He was already physically powerful, but with Coyote's animal strength boost, he was a wrecker.

The den's walls began to collapse as both of the ogres fell backwards around the walls. Gabe fell and scooped Ikaros up into his arms and hurriedly exited the collapsing area and once he was wading through the murk, he looked back to see that the den had collapsed and both of the ogres had sunken into the swamp.

He turned his attention to Ikaros, being careful not to let her touch the water as he walked out back to land. Her head was busted up pretty bad. He decided that it would be best for him to go ahead and attempt to heal it. So, using his magic, he copied Monk's Healing Magic and healed the wound on her head. He wanted to heal the bruises, too, but Healing Magic wasn't something that he could use well and he found himself starting to get exhausted. So, he stopped and picked her back up again,, still being as gentle as he could possibly manage to be.

He was walking for a few minutes when she stirred, letting out a small groan.

"Ikaros?" he asked, looking down at her.

Her eyes fluttered open and there was a flash of pain in them as she realized that she was injured. She then looked around. "Gabe...?" she asked hoarsely. "Wh-what happened?"

"You were attacked by ogres," he responded, smiling. She was okay; beaten-up, but okay. "We're not near them anymore, though."

"Did you attack them?" she asked, rubbing at her eyes with the hand that wasn't against Gabe's chest. He was protective of her and she knew that. She couldn't imagine him not attacking something that attacked her. She tried to think of why she got attacked and why she hadn't been able to fight, and then her eyes widened. "I wonder if the butterfly is okay..."

"Yeah," Gabe responded to her question. He then let out a small laugh that he had attempted to keep in. "I'm sure it is," he said. Of course she had ran off after a butterfly. That's what she did; it was a common occurrence. Stupid butterfly. Ruining his moments of courage.

Ikaros let out a small hum as she thought. He had been talking to her about something before she ran off. What was it? She pouted about the fact that she really wasn't listening back then. "Gabe...?" she decided it would be best to just ask him what he had been saying. Once she noticed that he was looking down at her with a look inquiry, she spoke. "...I wasn't really listening to what you were saying back then, before I chased that butterfly, and I was just wondering... Could you tell me again?"

The blood rose to Gabe's cheeks and he searched for a way to tell her that she really didn't feel like repeating what he had said. "Erm... It really wasn't anything important," he said. "It's not something you should really concern yourself with."

"Why are you blushing? Does it make you feel sick to think about it?" Ikaros asked. "Was it something really bad? Like news of a really bad mission or something?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. She sat up in Gabe's arms as best as she could, a small flash of pain in her eyes once again as the bruises on her side throbbed.

She was practically on the completely opposite end up the spectrum. It was starting to become that even thinking about getting his feelings through her thick skull made him want to bash his head against something. It just wasn't working! "No, Ikaros... It's nothing to do with a mission, I promise," he said. He then looked down at her and when he saw her curious, slightly worried eyes, he smiled. She was adorable.

His smile made that fuzzy feeling return in her stomach and chest and she questioned what that was. She needed to talk to someone about it. Gabe had to know what it was. Oh, but what if it turned out that she was sick? It would make Gabe worry so much, and she didn't want to put him through that, especially after he just finished saving her. So, even though she had opened her mouth to say something, she closed it and let out a small sigh. She and Kimi would get together and cook sometime, they did every so often, and then she would be able to ask Kimi about it. Then maybe she would tell Gabe if it turned out that she terribly sick.

"What is it?" Gabe asked. He had noticed her opening her mouth to talk and now he was confused as to what was wrong with her.

"Oh, it's nothing," she said, smiling reassuringly at him. "I just need to talk to Kimi when I see her around again," she said. After she spoke, she leaned her head against his chest and let out a small, tired sigh. His smell was a comfort for her, apart from the fact that he smelled strongly of mud. "Why do you smell like mud?"

"Hm?" Gabe was confused at first as to why she would ask this, but then he realized that with the way she was being carried, she couldn't see the bottom half of his shirt or his pants or shoes. "I had to walk through a swamp to get to you. You'll see when I put you down," he explained.

"Okay," Ikaros said, though a part of her didn't want him to put her down because she was comfortable and most of the right side of her body was pulsating with pain because of the bruises. It was easier to just not walk.

He didn't bother to put her down. He figured that she was probably in pain even though she didn't make it all that evident. He also liked having her close to him.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I think this chapter may be a bit shorter than the previous ones, not sure. Either way, if I included another part, it would end up being way too long, so.. .Yeah.

Adrian was added in and will be a part of the story due to pairing changes that were made. He's my character. I know I said I was done introducing characters, but he needed to be added, I think. I hope you guys like him, none-the-less.

Enjoy the chapter and leave a review if you want! I'm over 60 reviews now, and that makes me happy!

**Review Responses:**

Thank you all so much for reviewing! C:

**MyDearWatson** – New reviewer! I'm glad you're liking the story so far. You can submit a bad guy if you'd like. I can make him appear before the bad guys appear if you submit him to me before then. C: Histories of all of the characters will eventually be revealed, all throughout the story. I'm really looking forward to writing the Grand Magic Games as well~ I will read your story as well. I love stories with original characters in them!

**Iheartfairytail21**- I'm glad you liked the chapter~

**Junior the Otaku** – Winter can scare most, if not all, of the guild members. XD Gabe's luck will be terrible. Always... Probably. XD And the reason behind Gwen getting attacked will be revealed eventually. I did not just make her randomly get ambushed. And I agree that Ice is a nice character. Then again, I like all of the characters~ XP Yep. Canon characters will often be acknowledged, since they're members of the top guilds in Fiore. I imagine that all small guilds know about the large guilds like that. I'll try to keep up with lots of updates as long as I can. I have the goal of finishing this arc out before I go to college.

**La Maitresse' Dame** – Heh. I actually thought Fame's hair flipping would be annoying. It turned out to be the opposite, it seems. XD Ice is an interesting character. I try to keep her secretive, though. :U I've been told that it gets hard to keep up with the story for people who don't check Fanfiction often. And the original chracters of the anime will be in the story at a later time. There will never be long scenes where I focus purely on canon characters, though, because this is a story about Silver Griffin, not other guilds.

**Nicky Azure** – Author's fault, for Artemis. ; n ; I'll probably do something ridiculous like that again, just warning. Hopefully it won't be Artemis again, though. ; n ; I hope I can do an okay job with the canon characters. ; A ;

**shadowssj12** – Heh. Time will reveal what becomes of the waitress, as well as Yuki and Sara. C:

**LilTimy** – I tried to do suspense with a cliffhanger. X_X And Gabe's confession was practically unheard because of Ikaros's short attention span. And with the team names, I think they failed to come up with one. XD They may try again later, though. XD I think it's only the ones who consider themselves a team that come up with names. Only the ones that work together constantly.

**Rin Ice Miyako** – I'm glad that I made you happy~ c:

**Skye Marvell** – Heh. I'm glad you like the story so much. C: I'm also glad that my attempts at writing comedy are working out well. :D

**LinkinParkTheKillersFan** – I actually didn't expect Gwen to be a favorite character of anyone, because she's not awesome in battle. I'm glad you like her, though~


	9. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:** Hi, guys~ I have the next chapter written. I didn't think it suited to upload it, though, so I made this chapter instead. I'll be releasing it tomorrow instead.

**Guys, guys! If you ever think I'm neglecting a character, tell me, yes? I don't mean to at all and I try my hardest not to. I have stuff planned for all characters, so if you point out that a character is getting neglected, I will write one of the scenes with them in it in the following chapter.**

Anyway, hope you guys enjoy the chapter!

* * *

CHAPTER EIGHT

"Thank you so much... For joining me..." Eira spoke softly to Marionette. They were inside Eira's home, sitting at the table with tea in front of them. It was a nice home with light decoration, including family pictures and the like. The dining area where they were seated was themed with creams and olive colors and smelled strongly of the tea that Eira had just made. Eira was sitting across from Marionette at the table.

Marionette had been out for a stroll because Autumn air was starting to override the muggy Summer air that had been plaguing Nadeshiko and she had found herself taking many walks recently. She had also been looking for the other light mage of the guild, only to find one of his friend who informed her that he was out of town, but should be be back later that day. She had found herself lost in her own thoughts and hadn't really realized that she ended up on one of the streets of houses. Eira had exited her own house and asked her to come inside and talk, if she had the time. However, Marionette found herself losing her patience, as Eira had silently fixed tea and then sat there, staring at the table without a word. She was trying to keep her calm, though as she figured that something was really wrong if her quiet teammate had came to her for advice.

"It's not a problem," Marionette spoke calmly. Her eyes had also been on the tea until she heard Eira let out a small sniff. She wasn't necessarily fazed by the crying, even though it wasn't something that was expected, but she did look up to see that the other girl was crying, tears dripping onto the table and leaving stains in the dark wood. She would have encouraged Eira to talk, but she figured that the girl would talk about it soon enough, otherwise she wouldn't have wasted the time to get her.

Eira wiped her face with one hand. "...Sorry..." she whispered in a hoarse, grief-stricken voice. She sat there for a few moments, hoping that the tears would stop long enough for her to be able to talk to her friend. Once she felt as though she would be able to speak, she did. "...The... The reason I joined the guild..." she started, shifting around uncomfortably and then going silent again.

Minutes passed and Marionette's eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly as she spoke in a calm, collected tone. "Eira... You do not have to tell me, if you do not wish. If it would suit you better, we could go to the guild or go for a walk to get your mind off of whatever it is that troubles you."

Eira looked up and shook her head. "...I want... I want to tell someone, and there... There aren't many people that... Trust..." she said, her voice soft and formal as always. She was hugging herself and her untouched tea was starting to lose its heat. "I... It's... It's hard to talk about, though..."

Marionette was silent, giving the girl time to get her thoughts together so that she could talk. Her eyes were still slightly narrowed as her mood was starting to sour just a bit. It wasn't all due to lack of patience though, but also the sympathy that she felt for a friend. She had never seen Eira cry. Upon further thought, she realized that there were barely any guild members who openly expressed emotions. Then again, she couldn't say that she was friends with every guild member, so how was she to know if they truly expressed emotions?

"I... I joined the guild... To become... Stronger..." Eira admitted, sniffling.

Wasn't that the reason that many of the mages joined a guild? The question rang through Marionette's mind, but she wasn't so dense as to think that that was all that Eira was going to say, so she remained silent, watching the other girl warily. Seeing as she had never been around the girl in this mood, she was a bit cautious as to what would happen.

Eira let out a long, aspirated sigh and then looked back to Marionette. She knew that she was probably testing the other girl's patience and she felt bad. "I.. My brother... Erm... He disappeared before I...Joined the guild... I want... To find him..."

Marionette's face finally showed a slight tint of surprise, but it merely danced in her eyes and then fleeted away. She was...? Marionette's memories began to flood through her mind and she could feel her heart starting to rest and her throat closing up. His last words to her. Everything. Her breathing started to hasten and she knew that she had to get a hold of herself. She was there to comfort her friend, not dwell in her own past. She let her eyes drift closed for a moment and focused on nothing more than ridding her mind of thoughts and controlling her breathing.

"...Marionette?" Eira blinked, tears still shimmering in her eyes. She could have sworn that Marionette had actually lost her calm composure for once, but it had only been for a second, and she wasn't sure if it had been her imagination or not. Either way, the light mage had completely regained her composure and taken a sip of her tea, her eyes backed to being slightly narrowed.

Marionette had successfully calmed herself and to her, that was something astonishing. She wasn't going to say anything to Eira. She wanted to comfort her friend, not turn the topic to her. She offered a small smile to Eira to reassure the seraphic mage that she was okay. "...Have you found any traces of your brother?" she asked. This was going to be a hard conversation for her to handle. Maybe she would be able to turn it around and get Eira's mind off of it. Then she would need to train or something to clear her own thoughts, though.

Eira's eyes darkened and fell to the table and she began to hug herself tightly. "I've... I sometimes feel as if I can... I do not know to explain it..." her voice trailed off as she thought of a way to express her thoughts. "...I feel as if I can sense his magic... And that he's close... But... It's such a faint feeling that... It goes away so soon... I can never trace it..." She explained. It was true, sometimes, she would feel the presence of his magic chill through her body and when she would try to focus her mind to find the magic, it would be gone just as quickly as it came to her, and then she would be left longing for her brother. It was times like those when she found herself retreating from the guild and finding a place to be alone and cry. She couldn't handle the aching feeling of loneliness anymore, so she had decided that she would tell someone; Either Stark, Marionette or Nezuko. Marionette had been the first one that she had found, so she was the victim of dealing with her sadness.

Marionette ran her words through her head, pursing her lips as she thought of what that could mean. Some people had the same magic, so that could be what it was, but still, it was usually easy to recognize the magics of the people that you were close to. She knew that she would be able to... If she was in the same situation. There were also people who could use copying magic and presence altering magic, so that could be it, though she didn't see why there would be a reason to do that. After running all the possibilities in her head, she deemed that either Eira's brother came around sometime or it was just a trick that her mind was playing on her to ease the pain. "There is the possibility that he comes around town," she eventually settled on saying, offering a smile to Eira.

Eira didn't seem the least bit convinced by her words. "Why would he come around...? Why wouldn't he say something to me if he was in Nadeshiko?" she asked. The more questions she asked, the more seemed to erupt from the depths of her mind. "I have even felt his presence in the guild hall. If he were to visit Silver Griffin, surely someone would recognize him as having similar looks to me, right?" She took a breath before speaking again, this time in a slightly lower tone. "...We were close when we were younger... I could not imagine him not greeting me if he saw me... I just... I can't imagine it..."

Marionette saw the tears swelling in the blonde's eyes and she thought of something to say. It would be hard to trace a magic that she had never been around. She would love to know if someone else had encountered the magic around the guild hall. It would eliminate the possibility of Eira's mind playing tricks on her if someone else had seen it before. However, to do that, they would probably have to talk to Winter, and possibly a few others about the situation and Eira had invited her in the house to talk about this, which meant that she probably didn't want people to know about it. "...Could you tell Winter about it? Would you feel comfortable just telling her what type of magic that you are looking for...?"

Eira gnawed at her lip as she thought about Marionette's question. She didn't know how she felt about it. She knew that the guild master was a trustworthy woman and it could provide her with some comfort, maybe. "...I think I could... I wouldn't tell her who he was..." she said. "Sh-Shall we go?" she asked.

Marionette nodded and stood. "Thank you for the tea," she said. She had said that when she received the tea, but she wanted to say it again.

Eira nodded and followed her out of the house.

* * *

"Winter... Can we talk to you privately?" Eira asked when they were standing in front of the guild master, who was cleaning up the bar area.

Winter looked up at both of them and noticed the tear stains on Eira's face. "Of course, dearests," she said, worry in her voice. "Follow me," she said, motioning for them to come behind the counter with her. She then led them to a door that was hidden by the staircase. She pulled out a key and then unlocked the door, opening it and flicking on the lights.

Beyond the door was a small room with a low, round coffee table in the center and overstuffed, dark red sofas lining the room. The floor had a dark red carpet with silver accents in the middle of it, under the table. The wall that one viewed when walking into the room had six framed pictures, each one of a different current S-class mage of Silver Griffin hanging on it. The wall where the door to the room was had pictures of important people such as retired S-Class mages and the people who had helped Winter and Crystal found the guild hanging on it. The wall to right of the door had a large portait of two young women standing side by side and under it, a plate read "Winter and Crystal Esmera, founders of Silver Griffin" and under that, there was a date that was fifty years in the past. The wall to the left of the guild had a large tapestry that covered the entire wall, brushing the floor, and was red in color, with a huge, silver guild insignia on it. The pictures of the current mages had their birth dates and the day that they became S-class on below them and the pictures of old guild members had birth dates, why they were important to the guild, and for some, death dates.

"What is this room used for, if you don't mind me asking?" Marionette asked, staring at all of the pictures and noting the six S-class mages, since she actually didn't know all of them that well.

"It's the guild's Hall of Fame, if you may," Winter said. "I usually talk with the S-Class mages in here because the walls are thicker than those in the rest of the guild, and there is no way for anyone to hear through them... I also use it to speak with members about private manners, such as now..." With that, she sat down on one of the sofas and motioned for them to have a seat in front of her.

Eira and Marionette sat when some space in between them and faced Winter.

Eira let out a small hum before speaking... "...Have you felt any magic that was similar to mine... But darker... Around here?" she asked in a small, but still formal, voice.

Winter brought a finger up to her chin as she thought, gently tapping her walking stick on the floor. "No... I must say that I have not... I am sorry, dear."

Marionette was not pleased with this answer, but she express her displeasure. She didn't want this to be in Eira's head.

Eira felt her heart sank and she let out a sigh. "Has someone who look similar to me visited the guild at all?" she asked, trying to hold on to some kind of strings of optimism, though she wasn't sure how much she was going to be able to do it.

Winter shook her head. "I'm afraid not..." she said. From where she normally sat in the guild, she could see everyone who entered the guild, and while she sometimes dozed off, it was rare that she, Crystal and Cantrelle were all asleep, so she would have gotten word of someone who looked like another guild member if they had visited.

Eira felt her heart fall into her stomach and she fought the tears that were swelling in her eyes. "...Okay... Thank you... Winter..." she spoke under her breath.

"I'm sorry, once again, dear..." Winter said. She then hesitated before saying, "If you feel comfortable talking about it with someone... There is a girl named Gwen that researches magic, and it's been around, chances are that she has traced it and stored it into her database... She has lavender hair and is rather small and happy, so she won't be hard to miss, when she comes back."

"Okay..." Eira nodded. "I'm going to go now, if that's okay," she said, standing.

Marionette stood as well, still sympathizing for her friend since they hadn't gotten that much accomplished. She followed the other girl out of the room in silence.

* * *

Marionette and Eira parting ways, Eira stating that she did not feel good and that she would really like some time alone to clear her head. Marionette wasn't against time alone when things weren't looking great, so she bid her teammate a good day before walking off, deciding to continue her stroll in the cooling air. Before she exited the guild hall, Kai stopped her, a boyish grin on his face.

"Hey, Mari-chan!" he said, greeting her cheerfully.

Marionette's eyes twitched as she glared at him, stepping back when she decided that he was too close to her. "Don't call me that, please," she said in a flat tone. One, she didn't like to have her name shortened and two, she didn't think that they knew each other well enough to use such fond tones with each other.

Kai's grin faded to a smile. "Are you still up for training together?" he asked.

"I am," she said. He had shown up at the right time. She needed to get her mind away from the memories that Eira had brought on and training was the best way to do so.

* * *

"So, why don't you show me what you can do, first?" Kai asked, once they were in the clearing that was west of the guild. He had put distance in between himself and Marionette and was bouncing on his toes, looking forward to training with another light mage.

Marionette tossed her hair out of her way and placed her hands on her hips. "I think not. I think it would be best if you started us off," she said. She didn't like making the first attack in most cases and would highly prefer to see what he could do first.

Kai grinned. "Whatever. I can do that!" he said. With that, his body began to glow and the light around them began to distort until Marionette found herself being surrounded by shadows that seemed to reach out for her.

Marionette wasn't going to fall for something as simple as that, though. "How petty," she mumbled under her breath. Illusions were something that many light mages could do, since they couldn usually bend light to their will. She used her own magic to bring the light back to normal and called out, "Luminou!" bringing her bow and arrow to her hands and shooting an arrow at him.

Kai was astonished by how easily she broke through his manipulation, but he was fast to react, unsheathing his broadsword from his back and blocking the arrow with it.

Marionette fired another arrow and while he was blocking it, she moved behind him quickly and shot another arrow.

Kai didn't have time to block the arrow, but he had heard it in just enough time to roll forward and dodge, careful not to hit himself with own sword as he did so. He hopped back to his feet and rushed forward with his first surrounded by his light magic, throwing a fist at Marionette.

Marionette dodged and shoved her knee into his abdomen, throwing him back and then putting distance in between them. They're speeds were almost evenly matched and they used to the same magic, so she had to wonder if they would make a good team on missions.

"Damn! You're good!" Kai called, pulling himself to his feet and holding his stomach. He was genuinely impressed with her. She wasn't bad looking and strong. He could really fall for a girl like her. However, that wasn't what he was going for at that moment. Then again, it wouldn't hurt to tease her a bit! So, he pulled his shirt off, revealing tanned muscles. He looked over at Marionette and he felt a bit shot down to see that she was unfazed.

Marionette caught onto what he was doing; she wasn't dense. He let her eyes narrow in boredom to show him that she wasn't impressed. She let out a snort at the fact that he must of thought a bit highly of his appearance. "Just so you know, you shouldn't expect anything less of me than being strong," she said, responding to his complimented. "Two, don't take me for a shallow-minded woman. I have standards that someone like you could only dream of filling."

Kai grinned. He definitely liked girls like her. "Oh, c'mon. You and I may be meant to be," he said in a teasing voice. "And a guy like me has to exceed your standards!"

"Only putting yourself lower and lower," Marionette said, her eyes still reflecting her boredom. "Now why don't we forget this conversation and get back to training, preferably with your shirt on?"

"Nah. Why don't you take yours off, too?" Kai said, but his voice completely light and his eyes sparkling as he teased her further.

Marionette's eyes flared with anger and she shot her hands forward, shooting two beams of light at him. "Annoying..." she growled to herself. She had been happy to meet another light mage, but now she was regretting agreeing to train with him because he was annoying.

Kai laughed as he used his sword to block both of her attacks. "So, teasing isn't included in your standards, is it?" he called. She was cute when she was angry, to him anyway. He was having so much fun.

Marionette felt her anger boiling, but she didn't let it show. She regained her composure and folded her arms over her chest. "I think it would be best for us to call it a day," she said in a flat tone.

Kai walked over to her and patted her on the head. "We should work on a Unison Raid. I think it would be awesome to do something like that with you. We're both strong enough to master it," he said.

Marionette moved out of his reach, not even bothering to glare at him again. He wasn't worth it. Still, the idea of seeing if she was skilled enough to do a Unison Raid was tempting, and he was definitely the best candidate for that. She had heard that it sometimes took even the strongest of wizards years to succeed with the spell.

"I won't tease you too much, I promise," Kai said, a grin still plastered onto his face. "I wanna get this Unison Raid thing down, though.

"Fine," Marionette said. "Not today, though. I think it would work best if we both have more magic," she said. She wasn't worn from the battle, but she had used some of her magic. She didn't know how much magic they were going to have to put into something like a Unison Raid, so she wanted to have all of her magic.

"I agree," Kai said. "We'll meet up again sometime? We could train and then go to di-"

Marionette didn't even let him finish. "Remember your promise," she said. With that, she walked off, deeming that her patience for him was very thin and she would never be able to deal with him for extended periods of time.

"Bye!" Kai called, unfazed by her harsh treatment.

* * *

"Nezuko!" Monk called. He had been strolling the shopping district, heading for one of the parks that were beyond it to relax since his team had decided to take their usual day off because they were starting to want to kill each other. It was a common thing, and while Coyote usually hung out in the garden, Azura hung out in the guild hall, and Fame usually visited Lotus, the harbor town, for some reason, he usually walked around Nadeshiko or meditated. Today, he had found the little rat girl that he sparred with from time to time.

Nezuko's eyes widened as she was pulled out of her thoughts. She had just came from an elixir shop and had a bag that contained a few different remedies for migraines. She looked around until she spotted Monk and she arched her brow, wondering why he was alone. "What's up?" she asked. She had no intentions of talking long because she needed to get home.

"Nothin'. What are you doin' at an elixir shop?" he asked after reading the shop's sign.

"Erm... Gwen is sick..." Nezuko admitted. She had told Monk just a bit about her past... Namely that she and Gwen were cousins and Gwen had always been sickly. He didn't know anything else about her, not even her real name. She didn't know his, either.

"Oh. I can use my healing magic on her if you'd like," he offered. It was weird to see the sadness that flashed across her eyes. He didn't like it. "Why don't I walk with you to wherever she is?"

"...Sure," Nezuko responded. He wasn't being arrogant, either. "Where is your team and your attitude?" she asked as they began to walk.

"We have to take breaks from each other," Monk said, laughing. "And what do you mean? Do you like being reminded that I'm the best or something?" he asked, teasingly, laughing again.

Nezuko glared at him. She would have punched him, but she didn't want to risk dropping the elixirs that she had purchased. She couldn't call rats to attack him to the shopping district because there were a lot of people around and a lot of shopkeepers liked to beat rats with brooms, which bothered her. "I'm surprised that you and your team can even stand each other for five minutes. You're all awful," she commented.

"We're the strongest team in the guild, if not in all of Fiore, though," Monk said, smirking arrogantly.

Nezuko rolled her eyes. She could admit to herself that they were definitely strong, but it didn't change the fact that they all had horrid personalities. However, she found herself hanging out the Monk frequently and she never really understood why she didn't just tell him to leave her alone She guessed she could tolerate him, and he was fun to train with. She didn't want to think too much into it and she didn't have to as they were standing in front of her house. She opened the door and went in, letting Monk follow her.

"Is it just you two who live here?" Monk asked as he followed her down the only hall in the house.

"Yep," Nezuko responded. "Gwendolyn, I'm back and I brought someone who has healing magic," she said in front of a door before opening it. She dodged books in the dark room and walked over to the small bed where Gwen was lying.

Gwen's skin was sickly pale and her eyes were covered with a ribbon. "Hm...? Oh... Erm... Th-thank you... Nezuko-chan..." she spoke, her voice a faint whisper.

Nezuko gave her one of the elixirs and Monk used healing magic, realizing that whatever was wrong, he couldn't heal completely, but only relieve the symptoms of.

Gwen fell asleep almost instantly and Nezuko silently led Monk out of the room, shutting the door. "Would you like food or somethin'?" Nezuko asked. "Erm, thanks," she added. "You helped her some..."

"It's up to you," Monk responded. He didn't want to pry into what was wrong with her, though it did worry him that it was something that he couldn't completely cure.

Nezuko led him to the kitchen and began to prepare something. She hadn't eaten because she had been either worrying over Gwen and out buying elixirs. She had gotten better, but the days like this always made her scared that she would go back downhill. She was kind of glad that Monk had come when he did because it gave her a reason not to break down and cry, since she didn't cry in front of people.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Monk asked, sitting down at the table. She had never cooked for him. He couldn't recall ever seeing her house, either. "Do you like me or something?" he asked, though he was teasing.

Nezuko glared over her shoulder. "I have knives. You should watch what you say," she said, twirling a kitchen knife around in her hand before turning back to what she was doing. She wasn't doing it as much as an act of kindness as she was keeping him around so that she wouldn't break down.

Monk laughed at her. "You know, you're quite the odd girl," he said.

"Calling me odd really doesn't help your situation any, you ass," Nezuko said, though she continued to cook.

"Nezuko, have you went on any interesting missions or anything recently?" he asked, deciding to try and make legitimate conversation with her as she talked.

"I dunno... Probably," she said. "I'm just glad that I can go on a mission whenever I want now. The request board has gotten to where it stays occupied by at least a few missions."

"I remember that time. It was like that when I joined," he said. "I think you were already around for a while when I joined, though, right?"

"Probably," Nezuko answered. "I've been around for about nine years, now. Maybe closer to ten," she said.

"How old are you, Nezuko?" he asked, readying himself for her to snap. She didn't do well with personal information, though it would be hypocritical for him to get annoyed for that, since he was the same way.

"Nineteen, but I'll be twenty in a couple of months," she responded, focused on her cooking and not even really paying attention to the fact that she had answered his question with no rebuttal. "You're in your twenties, right?" she asked. She remembered when he joined, he appeared to be in his late teens already. She only remembered him joining because a lot of people pestered him about the fact that he wore sunglasses, and she had snatched his sunglasses off to make people shut up, only to reveal pure white eyes and freak a lot of people out. It didn't bother her, but not much did.

"Yep," he responded. "Did my greatness leave an impression on you, even back then?" he asked, smirking.

"No," Nezuko said, not sure what else to say. "Well, it wasn't your greatness, that's for sure, you conceited bastard," she said. She then put the last finishing touches on the lunch that she was making while he laughed at her.

They sat down and ate and once Monk had eaten a few of bites of the dish that she had cooked, he commented, "You know, I wouldn't picture someone like you to be a good cook!"

Nezuko looked up at him and frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked dryly.

"Well, you don't seem very girly," Monk said. "You seem more of the battle-ready, tomboy sorts!" Not that that was a bad thing, he thought to himself, though he didn't say it because she could take it the wrong way.

Nezuko's eye twitched. She wasn't sure how to take his words. She hadn't really th ought much about about being girly or making sure that she wasn't girly. She pretty much just went with the flow of things. While she did keep her hair short and didn't bother to do much with the style, she also wore a somewhat girly outfit. So, she didn't respond and went back to eating.

"What made you decide to join the guild?" Monk asked, after a few moments of silent eating.

"Money," Nezuko responded calmly.

"It wasn't to be awesome or get stronger" Monk asked. "I was already pretty awesome before I joined, but I wanted to join to get stronger."

Nezuko snorted. "Nope. Gwen and I didn't want to be mages. It was the only place in the town that would let ten year olds work, so it's where we wound up."

Monk was a bit surprised by this. He could imagine Gwen not wanting to be a mage because she didn't battle a lot, but Nezuko was strong and had never hesitated to attack with her magic when she was irritated. "You're really strong for someone who doesn't want to be a mage."

"Didn't. Didn't want to be a mage. I never said anything about not wanting to be a mage, now. Just because I don't like expressing it, the guild is my home and Winter is like a parent to me," Nezuko said, her face tinted pink. She didn't like to admit her softer side, really. She especially didn't like showing it to a jerk like Monk.

"That's good to hear," Monk said. "If you were to ever leave the guild, I would lose one of my admirers!"

Nezuko scowled at him. "Go to hell! Like I think anything like that!" she snapped.

"Then why do you always want to fight me?" Monk asked, folding his arms over his chest. "It's because you want to surrounded by my awesomeness, right?" He was only teasing now. This was how it usually was when they ran into each other. He only boasted about himself this much around her or when his team started getting worked up.

"Whatever. In your dreams," Nezuko said. She got up and began to clean since they were both done eating, her brows furrowed and an annoyed frown on her face.

Soon after, Monk left and she sunk down on the couch in their living room, the frown leaving her face. She was tired and became lost in her own thoughts within a minute or two, and didn't realize that Gwen was awake and had come into the room.

"Erm... Nezuko-chan...?" Gwen started, walking over and sitting beside her. She had uncovered her eyes, but she still looked tired.

Nezuko looked at her. "You feelin' better?" she asked.

Gwen nodded. "Is that guy... Erm... Monk... Is he your boyfr-"

She didn't get to finish her question as Nezuko hit her in the face with one of the pillows that was on the question. "Shuddup!" she snapped. "Don't ever ask something like that!" She realized instantly that she sounded harsh and was about to apologize, until she heard Gwen giggle. She glared and stood, storming off down the hall and to her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Thank you all so much for reading~ I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Leave a review if you want~

**Review Responses: **

Thank you all so much for reviewing!

**La Maitresse' Dame** – Sorry if he's annoying. X_X Hehe. At least I'm not completely failing with anticipation/suspense. XP. Oh, and sorry if Marionette not liking her name to be shortened is OOC for her. She just comes off as not liking her name being shortened to me, so if it's not that way, then I'm sorry and can edit that part out if needed. X_X

**Junior the Otaku** – Yeah. I think Lillay and Danny's story is romantic. X3 And with Adrian, he was gonna be put in, and then I decided to do Fame instead to make a variety of magic, but then he got put in anyway to fix a pairing issue. I'm glad that you like Adrian, though~ c: And I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter. C:

**preciousjewel01 **– Glad you like the chapter!

**Shadowssj12** – I'm glad you like the chapter!

**Nicky Azure** – Thanks for not being upset about my fail with Artemis. X_X I'm glad that you liked the chapter.

**Skye Marvell **– I'm really glad you enjoy the story so much! It flatters me! Adrian's pairing will be revealed with time, as well as some of the other less obvious pairings. :P

**LinkinParkTheKillersFan **– I like shy characters as well. I tend to make shy or bubbly characters. I'm glad that you don't think it's boring!

**Lazyboredom** – Thanks! I'm glad you liked the chapter.

**Starblack17** – Hehe. XD I tend to update a lot when I don't have anything to do. :U And I dunno. They may eventually settle on something, since they are one of the longer standing teams of Silver Griffin. You haven't seen the end of Winter's freezing abilities. C: I hope Monk isn't OOC in this chapter. This is the first time that I've shown him with Nezuko and that's how I imagine them together. I hope I did a good job. :)

**Barrett M107** – I'm really glad that you find the story to be a 10/10. It flatters me. I hope I can keep it up. C:


	10. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ Thanks for the reading and reviewing! It means so much to me. :)

* * *

CHAPTER NINE

Lillay's mood had sunken once again over the past few days, and she found herself curled up on one of the sofas that were in the guild hall, lying on one side, with Izzy sitting on her ribcage. She hadn't even been paying to any of the people around her. She had responded neutrally when Gwen and Sharon came to ask her if she was okay, but apart from that, she hadn't socialized much. It was closing in on six years now, and she hadn't even realized it. She kept having awful nightmares about the day, and even though she had been assured that he was alive and okay, the nightmares still left scars on her mind.

The doors to the guild had been opening and closing randomly throughout the day, but Lillay didn't bother to look up and see who it was until Stark grinned and announced "Danny's back!" when they opened. The name sent jolts through her body and she just wanted to look. She knew that it wasn't going to be him because Stark's words meant that Danny was a member of Silver Griffin, and she knew that Danny was a wanderer, not a member of the guild.

She noticed a man with a red, hooded robe covering most of most of his body and shading his face. That was kind of suspicious to her, even though Stark recognized him, so she sat up and watched him. He walked over and sat at a table with Stark and Terra and then removed his hood. Her eyes widened and she felt tears sting her eyes. "Daniel..." she whimpered. It couldn't be him, though. He wasn't a member of the guild, according to Winter. He had the same eye and hair color, though. His hair was a bit longer and messier, and he was more mature, but they could be twins. She covered her mouth to mask the gasp she let out as she began to cry, tears streaming down her face.

"Lillay?" Izzy watched her and then looked back to the man. Was that the man that she had been looking for all this time? Was he a member of the guild? But Winter had told her that he wasn't. Maybe he decided to join while they were away on a mission a few days ago. She opened her mouth to point this out to Lillay, but Lillay was already getting up and running away from the guild, leaving her behind on the couch. "Lillay!" she called out, chasing after her, Gwen not far behind.

"Lillay...?" Danny's eyes widened at the name, and he watched as the girl ran off, noting that she was in her underwear, which was odd. Still, the name wasn't a completely common name, was it? He could feel his heart pounding at the thought of it being her. If she would have joined the guild, Winter would have said something, right? Then again, did he ever even tell Winter the name of the girl that he was looking for?

"Oi, Danny, what's wrong?" Stark asked, noticing that his friend seemed to be lost in his own little world, his eyes distant and glossy. Danny was usually fairly cheerful, so it was odd to see him lie that.

"That girl's name was Lillay?" Danny asked, his eyes coming back into focus. "Where is she from?"

"Oh... I don't know her well, to be honest," Stark said, letting out a light laugh in a failed attempt to lighten the mood. "She joined a few months ago, and I haven't been around the guild much at all."

"Oh... I'm... Gonna go talk to Winter-obaachan," Danny said, standing. "See ya around, okay?"

"Yeah, sure, man," Stark said. "We should train together sometime or something," he called, as Danny walked off.

* * *

"Lillay!" Gwen called, catching Lillay in the small space that was west of the guild hall. She had slumped into the grass, pulled her knees to her chest and was sobbing softly. Izzy was hugging her. Gwen plopped down next to her. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"He... He... Who... Who is he?" Lillay stammered. She knew that Gwen was aware of most, if not all of the guild members.

"Who is who?" Gwen asked, confused.

"That man... With the robe..." Lillay responded, still sobbind. She hadn't looked up. She didn't want to be disappointed, and if Gwen had any shred of doubt in her, she would be.

"His name is Danny," Gwen responded, pulling her her Technician screen.

Lillay looked up when she heard the beeping sound to see that Gwen had an entire file on the man.

"He's an S-Class mage who uses Stitch magic. He joined the guild about four years ago and made it to S-Class within two years of being here, but he doesn't stay around the guild hall too much," Gwen explained. She exited her Technician screen and pulled her knees to her chest, letting her eyes close as she attempted to remember him. She had been a griffin for nine years now, so she had been in the guild longer. "If I remember correctly, Winter saved him, and he returned the favor by bringing Kai here..." she said. "He was really weak and on the verge of death because he spent the first month or so unconscious. He spoke about looking for someone when he recovered..."

Winter had said that he wasn't a part of the guild, and if this Danny had been a part of the guild for 4 years, then there was no way that it was the same person. Lillay found tears swelling in her eyes again and she hiccuped. How could her luck be so bad to find a guy who looked similar, had the same magic and the same name as the person that she had been looking for? "It's not him... They're so much alike, but Winter said that he wasn't a part of the guild..."

"Winter-obaachan could be lying," Gwen spoke bluntly. "I don't think I'd put it past her."

"She would have told me that he wasn't a part of the guild?" Lillay asked. Winter did not seem like a mean guild master like that.

Gwen pursed her lips as she thought for a minute. "Yeah," she said, nodding.

"Why?!" Lillay snapped, her sadness turning to anger. If Winter had told her that he was a part of the guild, everything would have been better. She would have waited for him to return from the mission and she wouldn't bawling her eyes out at the moment.

"It's romantic!" Gwen said, giggling. "You two are both looking for each other, but you just haven't managed to cross paths yet. It's like a love story!"

Lillay found herself blushing, but at the same time, she wanted to punch Gwen for teasing her. She settled on giving her a death glare. "You know everyone. How long have you been in the guild, Gwen?" she asked. She wanted to go and tackle Daniel, because she was sure that it was him, now, but she wanted to find out this, quickly. She was already standing.

Gwen stood as well. "Since I was ten, which was nine years ago," Gwen responded.

"Wow," Lillay said. "What was the guild like back then?" she asked.

"Erm... Smaller. We had the same building, but it was a small guild. Some of Winter's friends were still around, but they were older and uninterested," Gwen explained. "To be honest... I think Stark, Fame and Gabe are the only two who were in the guild who are still around. There were less than twenty members when Nezuko and I joined."

"So... No wonder you know everyone so well," Lillay commented.

Gwen knew that Lillay probably wanted to go and find Daniel, so she said, "I'll talk to you later. You can ask me if you want to know about the guild's history. I've read a lot on it, too," she said. With that, she waved and then ran off.

Lillay nodded, deciding that she may take Gwen up on the offer, later.

* * *

"Winter-obaachan," Danny said, stopping in front of Winter and folding his arms across his chest. "About the newcomer, Lillay. I think she's the one that I've been looking for." He didn't waste time beating around the bush. He just wanted to get Winter's opinion and then go talk to the girl. He still couldn't remember her stripping like that, but habits could be developed. She probably wouldn't expect him to enjoy sewing or using Stitch Magic, either.

Winter smiled. "I think you already know the answer, don't you?" she asked. She was at her usual spot in the guild, and she had been watching as Lillay ran out when Danny came back.

Danny's eyes widened. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, his eyes narrowing. It was everything he could do not to be disrespectful towards her. He had the utmost respect for Winter as both a parent-figure and a guild master, but he was irritated. "I've come back to the guild since she's joined, if Stark is correct about how long she's been around."

"Oh... Well... I figured you two would eventually cross paths," Winter said, laughing. So they were finally going to meet? How sweet...

Danny clenched his fist together, but before he snapped, he calmed down and sighed. "At least I can finally see her again..." he said. He could feel the tears already working their way to his eyes, but he fought them. "I'm gonna go find her. Thanks, Obaachan," he said.

With that, he walked off, exiting the guild and searching for her. He passed Gwen on his way out of the guild and she said, "She's in the area west of here, behind the guild."

"Thanks," he responded over his shoulder, as he was already walking in the direction that he needed to go.

* * *

Lillay saw him walking towards her and she froze, like a deer in headlights. She wanted to run and hug him, but she couldn't do it. All she could do is stare with tears steaming down her face. He was alive and well. He was a member of her guild. They would be able to work together and see each other as much as they wanted, as long as they weren't on missions with their friends. It was all too much for her to take in.

Danny, on the other hand, was not a deer in headlights. He walked up to her, and without a greeting, he pulled her into his arms, lifting her up so that he could rest his chin in the crook of her shoulder. He held her tight, tears pouring from his eyes. "You're... okay..." he spoke shakily into her shoulder, closing his eyes in a feeble attempt to keep the tears from flowing so that he could speak to her.

Lillay heard his voice and that was when she broke. She had been crying, but now she started sobbing into his shoulder, wrapping both of her arms around his neck. He still smelled the same, and apart from being a few tones deeper, his voice was the same. He had grown taller and his muscles had developed, but he was still him. "I've... I've found you..." she said, laughter and tears in her voice. She didn't want to let him go. He was warm and smelled familiar and nice.

Danny didn't want the moment to end, so he just sat there, holding her, his face nestled into her hair. He wanted to talk to her, though, so reluctantly, he put her back down and stepped back a couple a of steps. He wiped at his eyes and let out a small laugh, feeling a bit unmanly for crying so much.

Lillay looked up at him when he stepped back. She had a smile on her face, though she still had tears in the corners of her eyes. She wrapped her arms around herself, and for the first time since she had developed the habit, she felt embarrassed for being in her underwear. She felt her cheeks light up, but she had no idea where her clothes were.

Danny realized what her problem was and it caused him to blush as well. He removed his robe and handed it to her.

She put it on, though she still blushed because it was warm and made her feel happy. "How have you been?" she asked hesitantly. It seemed like such a simple question to ask, but she didn't know how else to start the conversation. She didn't want to be all sappy and talk about how much she had missed him or how much she loved him.

Danny grinned. "Fine. I've been living in Nadeshiko for about four years now," he said. "What brought you here?"

"I was looking for you, but I decided to join a guild because I felt that it would be easier to get money," she said. She then glared at nothing in particular. "Winter said that you weren't a part of the guild. If it wasn't for Gwen telling me the true nature of our guild master, I wouldn't have even known that it was you."

Danny laughed. "I've been here since you've joined and she didn't tell me," he said. "I think I could expect something like that from her."

That made her even angrier. "Why would she do something like that?!"

Danny shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe she's got a twisted mind," he said. He then hesitated and rubbed the back of his head before asking his next question. "...Where did you... Erm... The stripping... Errrr..." his voice trailed off and his face burned with blush. "N-never mind," he said, avoiding eye contact. He did not want to seem like a pervert, even though he meant it as a general question.

Lillay giggled a rather girly giggle, even though her face was flustered, too. "I've always been an ice mage, but I got an Ice Dragon Slayer lacrima implanted, and now I get hot way too easily," she explained. She looked up at him and smirked. "You look adorable when you blush," she teased.

Danny's eyes widened and he blushed even deeper. "Hehe," he laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Though she did have a new habit, she was still the same in terms of personality and he still loved her just as he did back then. He was happy that he was able to protect her that day.

Lillay stepped forward and leaned her head on his chest, wanting to be close to him. "I've missed you... So much..." she said softly. She then realized that she never got to thank him. Without him, she may not even be alive at that moment. "Thank you..." she whispered softly.

Danny wrapped his arms around her again. "I missed you as well, Lillay..." he said, leaning his head on top of hers and letting out a happy sigh. "I've spent so much time looking for you... I'm so happy..." he said.

Lillay could hear his heart beating fast and she looked up at him, only to freeze when their eyes met, not expecting him to be looking down at her. Her mind scrambled for something to say. She could just point out that his heart was pounding, but he knew that. It seemed that her mind had lost the ability to form good sentences to say.

Danny's heart began to pound even faster when their eyes met and before he knew what he was doing, he pressed his lips to hers and let his eyes close. He could feel the heat between their cheeks and his heartbeat was ringing through his ears.

Her shoulders twitched in surprise when he kissed her and suddenly it felt as if there was a fire between them and it sounded as if her heart had retreated to her head. It wasn't a bad feeling, though. She returned the kiss a bit shakily. She had never kissed anyone before, so it wasn't a feeling that she was used to. Then again, she was pretty sure that she wasn't used to most of the feelings that she was having since she had met him again.

* * *

**(O-SPECIAL-O)**

_Approximately 9 Years Earlier_

_((This will not necessarily pertain to the story at all, but it does involve a few of the OCs. The rest of this chapter is a special, so if you're not interested, then you're done with the chapter.))_

"Good morning~" A young Gwen, her hair only falling past her chin, dressed in a cute pink sleeveless dress with a teddy bear pattern on it, walked up to a table where three young boys and two tiny Exceeds were sitting. She was tiny and scrawny, but she still had a bright smile, though.

The first of the young boys to greet her was an eleven year old Stark, who had shorter hair and was dressed in an orange t-shirt and brown pants. "Hey, Gwen, Nezuko," he said, smiling cheerfully.

"Good morning," Terra said. She was sitting on top of Stark's head, sipping on a tiny cup of milk.

A young Nezuko was behind Gwen. Her hair was long, pulled into a high ponytail, and she was dressed in a brown hoodie and jeans. She sat down beside Gwen and rubbed her eyes sleepily.

"Sleepy?" A tiny Gabe asked. His hair was still messy, but was a lighter shade of blond. He was the youngest of the group, being only eight at the time, but he was still taller than the two females.

"I-I'm k-kinda sl-sleepy, too," Nikko stuttered out, blushing bashfully. He was sitting on the table in front of his partner and he yawned, tears forming in his large blue eyes.

Fame sat behind him. He still had blonde hair but without the blue or black in it, and his eyes weren't narrowed, but instead were large and round. He was dressed in a blue t-shirt under a black jacket, and black pants. "Then sleep, Nikko," he responded, flipping his hair away from his face and glaring at nothing in particular when he failed to get it out of his eyes.

"Why the hell do you do that?" Stark asked, glaring at Fame. "It's annoying."

"You're annoying, you jerk!" Fame retorted, shooting a mean look at Stark.

"Guys," Gwen whimpered out. She hadn't been a part of the guild for more than a few months, but she knew that Stark and Fame didn't seem to like each other very much.

"Whatever, Sparky," Stark said, rolling his eyes.

"Stupid Rock-Brains," Fame snorted.

"And here we go," Nezuko huffed, rolling her eyes and scooting back from the table as Stark and Fame hopped up on it, smashing their foreheads together.

However, they didn't actually start fighting because Winter came up to them and whacked both of them on the head, scaring them and making them get back in their seats. "You two, be nice. We have another young member and you five need to welcome him," Winter said.

"Another new member?" Gabe asked, his face brightening. He was the first young member of the guild, and he loved getting members that were around his age because he had spent a couple of years as the only young member before Stark had joined as well.

Winter nodded. "Leo, come here!" she called.

A twelve year old Leo came up to them, a boyish grin on his face. "I'm Leo! I'm a real lady's man," he announced. He was dressed in a black sleeveless shirt and green cargo shorts.

Nezuko snorted. "Aren't you too young for that?"

"I'm Gwen!" Gwen introduced herself, smiling brightly. She wasn't sure what it meant to be a "lady's man" but she would research it later. "And this is my cousin, Qui-"

Nezuko bopped her on the head. "Nezuko," she said, quickly. "Ignore her, she's stupid."

Leo tilted his head. "She doesn't seem stupid to me! She's quite cute!"

Gwen was rubbing her head, but she blushed when she heard the compliment. "Thank you," she said, smiling sweetly.

"Gwen, he's gonna say that to every girl he meets," Nezuko said. "Don't be so naïve."

"I'm Stark," Stark introduced himself to Leo. "It's nice to meet you!"

"My name is Gabe!" Gabe introduced himself. "And this is my Exceed, Terra!"

"I'm Fame," Fame said. "And the gray Exceed is mine. He's Nikko."

"Fame...?" Leo asked, sitting down. Winter had already left and returned to her spot in the guild. "What an odd name..."

"It's not his real name," Stark said. "His real name is Sparky!"

"Shut it, Rock-Brains!" Fame snapped. "My real name isn't Sparky, but it's also not something you should concern yourself with."

Leo then looked to Nezuko. "Your real name isn't Nezuko either, is it?"

"Why's it matter to you?" Nezuko smarted off.

"Nezuko-chan is really mean," Gwen pointed out, receiving a glare.

"We should go train or something," Leo declared. He then paused before asking, "What type of magic do each of you use, first?"

"Rat taming," Nezuko answered bluntly. It wasn't merely rat taming, but she didn't feel as if she needed to fully explain her magic.

"Blue Lightning. My magic is awesome," Fame said, smirking.

"I'm the Stone Dragon Slayer!" Stark said proudly.

"I use Copy-cat magic," Gabe explained.

"Emmm... I use Technician magic, but I can't use a lot of magic," Gwen said, blushing.

"Gwendolyn is sickly," Nezuko explained. "She doesn't feel very well if she moves too much and she gets overexerted too easily. It's not really any fun to train with her."

"Yeah, I agree. She's really weak," Fame said, tossing his hair away from his face, which earned him a glare of annoyance from Stark.

"I'm sure she'll get stronger if she trains a lot," Leo said, smiling at her. "So why don't we all work with her?"

"I'm not interested in helping anyone," Fame said.

"She's ill. She's not gonna be able to be as strong as some of us. The doctors said that she's just not healthy," Nezuko said. Part of her not wanting to train with Gwen was because she worried about her.

"I don't mind helping," Gabe said.

"Me either. Sparky needs to learn to be nicer," Stark said.

"Go die, Rock-Brains," Fame growled.

"I would probably just get in the way," Gwen said. "I'd love to watch you all train, though."

"No, you should train with us," Leo said, smiling at her. "You'll get stronger!"

* * *

"How are we supposed do this?" Nezuko asked, once they were in the clearing west of the guild. "I mean, it's gonna get chaotic if we just randomly start attacking each other."

"There's six of us, so why don't we split into two teams?" Stark suggested. "But I'm not being on a team with Sparky!"

"Rock-Brains, what the hell makes you think I would ever work with you a day in my life?" Fame snapped.

"I would love to be on a team with you, Gwen," Leo said, grinning brightly.

"Then I'm on your team," Stark declared, knowing that Fame wouldn't work with Gwen.

"Alright, then we're a team," Nezuko said, walking over beside Gabe and Fame.

"Tch. We're obviously far better," Fame said, flipping his hair.

"Don't you think you feel too great about us? We don't even know Leo's magic," Gabe pointed out. He didn't really know how he felt about getting stuck on a team with Fame. He liked to see the best in people, but Fame and he were nearly opposite in personality and views in life.

"C'mon, I'm amazing, so we've got this," Fame said. With that, he charged his fist and dashed forward, aiming for Stark.

Stark dodged and Leo took out a small black book that hard "HISTORY" printed in large golden letters on the front. He sparked it and it turned into a giant sword that was almost taller than him. He went to swing, but Fame rolled in air and dodged it.

"You use Lightning as well?" Fame asked, noticing the spark he used to make the book transform.

Leo nodded and attacked again. "It's called Storm Wolf Magic!" he called, swinging repeatedly at Fame, though his swings weren't that fast, so Fame-who was small and nimble-had no problem jumping around him and dodging.

Gwen pulled up her Technician screen and planted a mine behind Fame and watched with a smile on her face as Fame dodged Leo's attack for a final time and landed directly on her mine.

Fame let out a cry of pain as the mine exploded in a digital mess of numbers that were implanted into his skin and began to attack his magic. "What the hell, Leo?" he growled. Once the attack was over, he fell onto one knee, trying to regain his strength.

"Not me," Leo responded, stepping back. He looked to Gwen, who was working on her Technician screen. Was she doing it? It didn't seem like a weak magic to him.

Stark smirked and went in for an attack on Gabe, who was watching Leo and Fame fight, swing a stone fist at him.

Gabe jumped back and used his copying magic to copy Stark's fist, returning the attack with a stone kick, landing the hit in the middle of Stark's back and sending him to the ground.

"Rat spirits, gather!" Nezuko called. A bunch of small wisps that were the shape of rats materialized around her. She sent them at Leo and they danced around him, nipping at his magic. She smirked as he seemed to be a bit taken aback by her magic.

Leo watched the spirits, thinking about the fact that she could even tame the parted souls of rats, and then let his body spark and got rid of the weak spirits and he readied his sword before charging towards Nezuko.

Nezuko dodged the first swing, but Leo was quicker than her and managed to twist around and hit her in the back with his second swing, knocking her to the ground.

Fame recovered from the attack and went for Stark, who hadn't completely recovered from being hit with his own magic. "Metal Lightning!" he growled, his entire body becoming coated with lightning that lashed out at anything near it.

Stark rolled back just in time to dodge Fame's fist, though he did get hit by the bolts of lightning that came from it and he winced in pain, though the bolts weren't that strong. "Stone Dragon's Rugged Claw!" Stark called, punching Fame in the face with a stone fist, sending him flying backwards.

Gabe got up to attack again, and tried to copy Gwen's magic. Unfortunately, that wasn't the best idea because when the Technician screen appeared, it confused him. Apparently, her magic revolved around that screen and there was nothing that she used without it.

Leo took this as an opportunity to attack and punched Gabe in the back with a thunder-charged fist.

The magic that he had copied began to overwhelm him and he began to shock himself, digital numbers flying everywhere. He couldn't control it at all.

"He's overloading!" Gwen called, dropping her magic and running over to his Technician screen, using her own magic to make it go away before turning to Gabe, covering her mouth and watching in horror.

"What's that mean?" Leo asked, his eyes wide.

Everyone climbed to their feet and ran over, gathering around Gabe.

"Erm... I'm not really too sure about it, because I haven't experimented much with it, but I know that my magic works oddly with Lightning magic," she explained. " and when it's exposed directly to too much lightning, bad things happen."

"Can you fix it?" Nezuko asked.

"I've never had it happen..." Gwen confessed. "I just know about it from the nature of the magic and studying it..."

Gabe fell to the ground, the overload finally done. He let out a pained gasp, but sat back on his knees, his body covered in burn marks. "Oww..." he groaned. "I don't understand your magic at all."

"I'm sorry..." Gwen mumbled, tears in her eyes. She didn't think he would try to copy her magic. It wasn't something that many people could use because the screen wasn't easy to read and the magic couldn't attack directly. She could only use mines and small barriers.

"So, is this just something else to make you even more pitiful?" Fame asked. His face was swollen from the attack from Stark, but he still attempted to keep his composure.

Gwen frowned at his words and nodded. "Yeah, probably," she said, wiping her eyes. "I didn't think anyone would try to use my magic. I would have said something about it..."

"You're kinda horrible, Sparky," Stark said, shooting daggers at Fame. He then turned to Gabe and offered a hand down to him. "You okay?" he asked.

Gabe stood, taking Stark's hand, and shook himself off. He hadn't fully copied the magic, either, as he wasn't good enough with his magic to copy the full strength of the magic. He wondered how much it would hurt Gwen to be overloaded. He also wondered how long it had taken her to learn how to use the Technician screen. "I'm okay," he said, smiling cheerfully.

"So, who won that battle?" Nezuko asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"We did, of course!" Fame said, flipping his hair.

"Says Sparky with his face barely recognizable," Stark scoffed.

"I don't really think we won that," Gabe admitted. "Leo got me and you down, Nezuko, and Stark got you, Fame..."

Both Nezuko and Fame stuck their noses up at Gabe, which made his eyes flash with hurt.

"Don't worry about Nezuko-chan," Gwen said. "She tends to express herself a little too bluntly at times." Nezuko hadn't always been like that, and Gwen was pretty sure that she would snap out of it one day. They had just been through a lot within the past year and Nezuko seemed to be developing a bitter outlook on life.

"Yeah, and Sparky is just like that," Stark said, rolling his eyes in Fame's direction. "You shouldn't let 'em get to you at all!"

"It was really awesome to train with you guys!" Leo said, grinning broadly. "I think joining this guild was an awesome idea!" His eyes then landed on Gwen. "And plus, there's at least one extremely cute girl around here." Leo was normally the type to flirt relentlessly with all girls, but Nezuko and Gwen were the only girls, and he didn't like the way Nezuko treated others at all.

Gwen blushed.

"Are you done being an idiot, Stark?" Terra said, flying up to him. She and Nikko had been sitting on the ground a good ways away from where they were fighting, but now they were back.

"Yep," Stark replied. "W-wait, I'm not an idiot, Terra!"

Leo, Gwen and Gabe laughed at him.

Winter came out before they could talk anymore. "Did you six enjoy training?" she asked once she was standing with them.

"Yeah!" Leo, Stark and Gabe said in unison.

"I really like being a part of this guild!" Leo said, grinning. "Thanks for letting me join, Winter!"

Winter smiled warmly. "I'm glad that you all get along so well," she commented.

Stark and Fame shot each other hateful glances and Winter whacked them both on the head. "You two are practically brothers, now stop bickering so much!"

After rubbing their heads, both Fame and Stark stuck their tongues out at each other and then turned their backs to each other.

"Now, you all need to come eat," Winter said. "I've made you all a nice lunch and you need to eat well to grow up and be strong mages."

Stark, Gabe and Leo let out cheers to this and the others just followed as Winter led them back to the guild hall.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Fluffeh, first big romance scene. That's pretty much how I write romance, with views from both characters and lots of blushing. Unless it's a character that doesn't blush. I couldn't imagine Leo, Kai or Azura blushing a lot during romantic moments, necessarily, C: Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. It's a bit short again, but once again, if I add in another part, it will be too long. Anyway, if you guys think I'm going to fast with development or dragging things along, just tell me... I mean, many of the characters have known each other for years, so... It's not moving too fast in my opinion, but I like to listen to my readers.

In regards to the special, I may do more with showing the characters either when they were younger or when they're away from the guild and not away on a mission, if you guys want to see more specials. I just wanted to write this one because it sounded cute and I was going through all the characters' histories and noticed that Gabe, Leo, Stark, Fame, Gwen and Nezuko joined a few years earlier than all of the other characters and I had this idea in my mind when I saw that.

I hope you guys enjoyed and leave a review if you have something to say. C:

**Review Responses: **

Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing!

**LinkinParkTheKillersFan - **I'm really glad that you like the chapter! I think both of the pairings in it are nice, too. c:

**Iheartfairytail21 - **I've got something planned for Cantrelle in the next chapter, so I'll throw that in, too. c: So, look forward to the next chapter! c:

**Nicky Azure - **I'm glad that you like the couple development! Hopefully you will feel that way about the couples that haven't developed yet~ c:

**Rin Ice Miyako -** I guess that's what it would be~ Just an attempt not to rush couple development and stuff along because I don't want to rush it along. :U I think when I first started this, I was on a weird sleeping schedule and would upload it at weird times. My upload time is never set because it depends on how much inspiration for what I'm writing... I have ideas for every character, but some of them are easier to write than others so I'll get chapters done faster.

**La Maitresse' Dame - **I'm glad that that was a trait that fitted her~ I'm really glad that I've done good with her! It's flattering that you think I did so well on her! Thank you~ One of Eira's traits is that she cries over her brother a lot, and I needed to depict that, since it's one of her main traits, and I imagined that she would tell someone that she was close to. c: I'm glad that you like Nezuko! This chapter may have made you feel bit different, though she's not like that anymore. I'm really happy that you liked the chapter so much!

**LilTimy -** It's okay~ You don't have to review every chapter, and I understand that I put chapters up really quickly sometimes. c: I'm really glad that you liked everything in the chapter~ c:

**FairyTailWolf6 - **I'm glad you liked the chapter so much! And you will see Marionette's and Kai's true power eventually. No characters full power has been revealed yet because they haven't had to have their full power.


	11. Chapter 10

**Author's Notes: **Hi, guys~ Enjoy the chapter! Oh, I feel as if I should say this... I have somewhere between 3-6 chapters left in this arc, not including this one. And you'll know what the next arc is soon enough, as it will be spoke about in one of the next few chapters.

* * *

CHAPTER TEN

A triumphant look flashed across Cantrelle's eyes when she saw that Winter was asleep and Crystal had went to get her a snack. She normally wasn't this devious, but she was a mage, and she wanted to feel like she was a mage. Mages took missions, and she could still remember Kimi saying that she wasn't much older than her when she started taking missions. So, she wanted to take a mission However, she had asked Winter if she could take a really small mission, and she had been bluntly turned down. But now, it would be easy for her to just steal the mission from the board. She had already chosen the mission that she was going to take and placed a shimmering sticker on it so that she wouldn't forget. It was a simple mission that involved traveling to another town to watch over an expensive mansion while the owners went on vacation for a few days. The mission entailed that there wasn't any sign of danger in the area that they lived, but they just wanted to be safe.

Being quiet and not getting noticed by any of the guild members, she snatched the mission from the board and tucked it into her pocket. She then looked around for someone who she could trust. Her eyes landed on Azura and her team and she walked over to them, receiving slightly unwelcoming glances from Fame and Coyote. They were bickering about strength and what type of magic was best, but when she placed her hands on the table to get their attention, they stopped.

"Erm... Azura-san..." she started sheepishly.

"Yeah, Cantrelle?" Azura turned her attention to her.

"Can you tell Crystal-obaasan and Winter-obaachan that I went out to play?" she asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible. She didn't know if Azura would let her go on a mission, either, if she found out.

A look of inquiry flashed across Azura's eyes. "Can't you tell them yourself?" she asked.

"Please?" Cantrelle begged, lacing her fingers together and tucking them under her chin.

"Fine," Azura said. "Don't do something stupid that's gonna get you in trouble, kid," she added. She had a feeling that Cantrelle was up to something, but she didn't care. Life was meant for being reckless, so she wasn't going to argue.

Cantrelle's eyes brightened.. "Thank you, Azura-san!" she said. She wanted to hug the older girl, but she thought that the older girl would probably be irritated. With that, the young girl ran off, leaving the guild hall.

Crystal came back soon after with snacks and looked around, a confused expression on her face.

"She went outside to play," Azura said. She had grabbed a random mission from the board and she and her team were leaving as she spoke. She wasn't going to be the one that took the blame for the young girl leaving.

* * *

Cantrelle moved quickly. She had hidden her backpack full of supplies outside the guild hall in one of the bushes that surrounded it. She threw it over her small shoulders and began to run. She had just enough money to afford a train ticket to Redwood Village, which was where the mansion that she would be sitting was located.

When she went to purchase her ticket, she got an odd look from the man behind the counter, but when he noticed the guild mark on her shoulder, he smiled and handed over the ticket. "So it's not uncommon for children in guilds to work," she mumbled to herself as she boarded the train. Winter was so strict on her that she had barely even gotten to train, even though she had been practicing her magic for at least two years prior to Winter finding her in the forest. She wanted to be strong like all of the guild members, but she just felt as if she didn't take action herself, she would never be able to be strong.

She took a seat on the train and let out a small sigh. She felt kind of nervous. She was alone and the train was full of people. She would be okay, though. She just had to be confident. She wondered how the other guild members felt when they did missions when they were younger. Were they ever scared? Were they ever scared now, when they were older? She would have to ask about that later.

"Hello~" A girl's voice startled her and made her jump. She looked over to see a girl sitting in front of her. The girl had dark blue hair that was tied up into two pig tails that swirled around and resembled drills, charcoal colored eyes, and a fair complexion. She was dressed in a dark red sundress that had black pinstripes going down it and black clothe around the edges. She also had on black slip-ons with red ribbons on them and black and red striped stockings that covered her legs. Her hair was tied with dark red ribbons and she also had a black headdress that was decorated in dark red ribbons. She had a large tote in her hands. She looked to be around Cantrelle's age, maybe a year older.

"Oh... Uhm... Hi..." Cantrelle said, shifting nervously.

"I hope it's okay if I sit here. I promise I won't hurt you!" the girl said. "My name is Ameryssa, but please, call me Ami or Ryssa!" she introduced herself happily.

"I'm Cantrelle," Cantrelle introduced herself, her arms wrapped around her abdomen in a nervous manner.

Ameryssa's eyes landed on the guild mark. "Are you part of a guild? That's really neat," she commented. "I would be part of a guild, but my teacher says that I need to be stronger before I can do anything like that."

"So... Are you training in magic?" Cantrelle asked curiously. Maybe the girl would be able to join the guild and she wouldn't be the only kid in the guild after that.

"Yeah... I'm training in a magic where I can control my hair to do things... It's really fun!" Ameryssa said. "My teacher's name is Flare," she then clapped her hands over her mouth. "You can't say that, though! She doesn't really like people to know about her too much.."

Cantrelle was confused. "Why?" she asked.

"Well... I think she wants to stay away from people because a lot of people don't like her. Something about something called the Grand Magic Games," she said. "She took me in because my village got destroyed and she felt bad for me! A lot of people say that she's really creepy, but she's nice!"

"If she's nice to you, that's all that should matter!" Cantrelle said, smiling at the young girl. "I was found by the guild master of my guild after being in a forest for a couple of years, and she's really nice, too. But she doesn't like me training a lot because I could get hurt!"

Ameryssa giggled. "Well... She's nice, then! Flare worries with me sometimes, too, but she let me go to the harbor alone to pick up some stuff. She goes with me as long as it doesn't risk people seeing her too much. We travel a lot, but right now, we've been staying in a hotel in a town that's not far from here, if I take the train." She then paused. "What type of magic do you use, Cantrelle?"

"I use Song Magic," Cantrelle said. "I haven't gotten to practice it as much as I like, but it's really fun to use!" she said.

"It sounds fun!" Ameryssa said, grinning, her eyes sparkling. She then paused and dug into her tote, pulling out an unopened bag of assorted candies. She opened and took one, unwrapping it and popping it in her mouth. "Here, take a few!"

Cantrelle blinked and slowly took the bad. "Th-thank you," she said. Ameryssa was nice. As she took the candy, she realized that she wasn't nervous anymore. She felt perfectly fine on the train. Ameryssa was young and she traveled alone and wasn't scared. Still... She wondered if the other young girl was ever scared. "Ryssa... Are you ever scared when you travel alone?"

Ameryssa put the candy away and though for a moment. "Yeah, but I'm a mage, so I have to believe in myself," she said. "I mean... If I get attacked, that means that I can fight and if I fight, I can get better with my magic... And then, if I get killed in a fight, at least I died being who I am, right?'

Cantrelle frowned. "But, you're not scared of getting hurt?"

"Getting hurt only makes you be able to know the pain and expect it more," Ameryssa said. "Flare told me something like that when she was talking about her old guild used to treat her."

Cantrelle took in her words and realized that she was right. Besides, Cantrelle had to be brave. She was a member of Silver Griffin and she would be an S-Class wizard one day. "You're right," she said, smiling at the other young girl.

The girl giggled, but her attention went to the announcement that said that they had arrived at a town that was not Redwood. She stood and Cantrelle felt a little sad ping at her heart. "Well... I've gotta go~ It was nice meeting you, Cantrelle!" she said. She then extended one pale hand. "We're friends, right?"

Cantrelle stared at the hand and then back to Ameryssa's smiling face. "Yeah," she said, taking her hand.

They shook and then Ameryssa bowed politely before skipping off of the train, waving as she did so.

Cantrelle watched as the girl left and then looked out the window as the train pulled off and saw her walking with a curvy woman who had long red hair tied into two braids that met at her hips. Even though she hadn't talked to her much, Ameryssa gave her courage and made her feel as if she would be fine.

* * *

Crystal had woken Winter up when she didn't see Cantrelle anywhere around the outside of the guild hall. Winter hadn't even bothered to look around for the girl. She took the mission log, a book where she wrote who took which mission and when, and then walked over to the request board. It took a few minutes for her to realize one of the missions were indeed missing. She let out an aspirated sigh and turned to her sister. "Where is Azura?" she asked. She knew that her granddaughter was smart enough to catch onto what Cantrelle was doing, and she was going to scold her for not stopping her. More than scold, of course, but that's just the way she was going to word it to make herself seem nicer.

"She left on a mission with her team," Crystal responded dryly.

Winter let out a long sigh. "She will get what she had coming to her, later. I need someone to go after Cantrelle," she said, walking out into the garden to find someone.

Adrian was tending to the plants and Sharon was asleep on one of the benches. Apart from that, the garden was void of people.

"YOU TWO!" Winter screeched. "GET OVER HERE!"

Adrian straightened up and let out a small whimper. He had only been a part of the guild for about two months, and he had yet to see Winter's bad side. He had no idea what he had done, but he could feel his heart pounding as he walked over to her, standing in front of her.

Sharon had jolted awake and let out a small grumble before rolling off of the bench and joining Adrian. She couldn't help but to smirk when she saw the terrified look in his eyes.

"Go and get on the train to Redwood Village and find Cantrelle! If I see you two in town in thirty minutes, I'll freeze both of ya!" Winter snapped.

"Why did she go to Redwood?" Sharon asked, while Adrian whimpered and promised that he would be out of the town in time.

"She took a mission without my permission. There should be a mansion in that town. She'll be there. You have to finish the mission for the client and bring her back! If she gets hurt, you two WILL regret it!" Winter explained.

"Alright," Sharon shrugged. She then turned to Adrian, who was shaking. "Meet me at the train station as soon as you get ready?"

Adrian nodded. "We'll bring her back, Winter-sama," he said.

* * *

"Winter-sama is so scary... But she seems like such a nice old lady," Adrian commented once they were on a train, after waiting for a bit. He had a green backpack on the seat beside him.

"Winter is nice... She's just really protective of Cantrelle," Sharon said, plopping her head down on her backpack and yawning. She was a little disappointed that one of her relaxation days had been ruined, but she would deal with it. Besides, the mission was a simple mission and she knew that while Redwood was a small village, it was a prosperous town and she was looking forward to going shopping in it. "Adrian... Do you like to shop?" she asked.

Adrian could understand that Winter was protective, sort of. Cantrelle must have been like a granddaughter to her. Then again, didn't she have a real granddaughter that was a part of the guild? He tilted his head in question at Sharon's next question. "I'm not completely obsessed with it. It's enjoyable sometimes," he answered. "I like cute things and sometimes I can't help myself but to buy cute things like stuffed animals when I shop," he said. "I bet Cantrelle-chan would like a stuffed animal..."

"We should go shopping after we find Cantrelle," Sharon said. "Have you ever been to Redwood? It's a small village in terms of population, but it's got the best shops."

"I don't think I've been to Redwood," Adrian responded to her question.

* * *

The clients were a bit uneasy about letting an eight year old girl watch over their mansion, but they accepted it because she did have the guild mark, meaning that she was a trusted mage. So, they left and Cantrelle was left in a large, three story mansion with many rooms. She was told that she could sleep in any of the rooms and cook her own food, as long as everything was returned to the way it was when she left.

The mansion was quiet and she couldn't help but to feel lonely. A part of her wished that she would have asked Ameryssa to help her on the mission just so that she wouldn't be alone. She found her way to a living room that had one large, segmented sofa that wrapped around a large coffee table, along with a fireplace, a huge bookshelf that covered most of one wall, and a piano. The walls were a light cream with blue trimming and the furniture was dark blue with violet and cream accents, and the fluffy plush carpet was dark blue.

The small girl looked around for a moment before heading to the sofa and sitting on it. It was going to be a long night. She thought that spending time in a mansion would be fun, but the mansion wasn't much bigger-if at all- than the guild hall and the silence of the place was almost unnerving. "Oh, well..." she mumbled, deciding that it was only for a night and that she could put up with it.

She had almost dozed off on the sofa before the doorbell rang, causing her to jolt up. She had been told that they informed most of their friends that they were going away for a few days, but just in case, she should answer the door and inform people of their absence. So, she got up and walked to the door, letting out a surprised gasp at who she saw.

Two of the guild members, Sharon and Adrian were standing in front of her, smiles on their faces. She stepped back. "What... What are you two doing here?"

"We've come to help you on your mission," Sharon said, stepping past her and into the mansion. The high-end home reminded her of her days before the guild and it gave her a sick feeling in her stomach. She had seen this mission on the request board and had instantly turned her eyes away from it. She really wished that she wasn't the one who had to help with this.

"This place is amazing~" Adrian commented, walking in behind Sharon. He had never really had the taste of an extravagant life. In fact his childhood had been spent in a run down, two room home with four other people and the rest of his life after his mother's death had been spent as a wanderer who either camped out or stayed in a hotel for a couple of nights. He then turned to Cantrelle. He had only taken a couple of missions since he had joined the guild, but the clients that he had worked with had given him some extra details on the mission when he met them. "Did the client say anything that's not on the flier?"

"Oh... We can cook for ourselves and we can stay in any of the rooms, as long as everything is completely the way they left it," Cantrelle explained. Her eyes then dropped to the ground. "Obaachan is really upset, isn't she?"

Sharon and Adrian exchanged glances and then Sharon said, "She'll get over it. We just have to help you on the mission and then get you back to her." She then added as they walked to the living room, "When we get done with the mission, we're gonna go shopping."

They all sat on the sofa and Cantrelle hummed nervously before asking, "What age were you two when you started training seriously in magic and wanting to be a mage?"

"I didn't start learning magic until I was thirteen because my parents weren't really into me being a mage," Sharon said, plopping over and lying down on the sofa. "...But I met a friend when I younger and we used to always dream about being mages," she said, her hands going to the gold necklace that was given to her by the girl that she was once best friends with.

"Hm... I started learning magic when I was about five, but it was just making flowers bloom and such," Adrian explained. He held his palm out and made a flower sprout from his palm and then handed it to Cantrelle, who stared questioningly at it. "I don't think I ever thought about working for a guild or anything... Well... I just wanted to be a gardener, I think," he said, laughing lightly.

"So... Do you two think I'm too young to be a mage and start working in the guild?" Cantrelle asked, twirling the flower around absentmindedly.

"No... Winter's just strict on you," Sharon answered. "Don't you train with Hikari sometimes, though?"

"Yeah, but Winter doesn't even like me training all that much. When I do train, she monitors it to make sure that I don't get hurt," Cantrelle said. "I don't like it at all," she mumbled.

"Why don't we train you right now?" Sharon said, sitting up. "I wouldn't use my magic, but I could train you in speed, and then Adrian could use his vines and stuff to train you with dodging," she said.

"Yeah. That sounds like it could be fun and this house has a pretty large backyard~" Adrian said.

Cantrelle's eyes brightened and she stood. "Would you two really do that?" she asked.

"Yeah, it'll be fun!" Sharon said.

With that, they walked through the house and to the backyard and Sharon instructed Adrian to put some distance between himself and her and Cantrelle. She then turned to Cantrelle. "You know, there's a possibility that you're gonna get hurt, right?'

Cantrelle nodded. "It's okay. I want to get stronger," she said.

"So, am I just gonna attack both of you and let you dodge?" Adrian asked. He wasn't completely comfortable with Cantrelle getting hurt, but at the same time, he agreed with Sharon that she needed to train.

"Yep," Sharon said. "I want you to attempt to dodge and I'll give you pointers, okay?" she spoke to Cantrelle.

"Okay, I'm ready!" Cantrelle said. Her heart was pounding, but it was because she was excited, not scared. She didn't know Adrian's magic very well, either, so she was anticipating this training.

Adrian's arms shot forward and he shot vines from both of his arms, a few of them aiming for Sharon and a few aiming for Cantrelle. They didn't have thorns on them and he didn't plan to whip either of them, but instead he planned to catch them if they didn't dodge.

Sharon jumped into the air and dodged all of the vines with ease, but Cantrelle froze and ended up getting caught. She hadn't expected Adrian to be so quick.

Adrian wrapped the vines around her and then let his magic go, letting the vines disappear in a green flash. "You can't be scared! That will get you hurt really fast," Adrian called.

Sharon landed beside Cantrelle and put a hand on her shoulder. "If he would have been an enemy, he would have had you in his possession," she reminded her. "You cannot be scared in battle. Fear is natural, but you have to fight it..."

"He's so quick, though," Cantrelle whimpered out. She wanted to be brave, but she also wanted to tell herself that Adrian was older and skilled. Maybe she needed someone younger to train with...

"Should I be slower with my attacks?" Adrian asked.

"Nope," Sharon responded. "You need to teach her not to be scared, and there isn't any sense in going any easier on her than you are. Don't attack me this time. I want to watch her."

Adrian nodded. "Ready?" he asked.

Cantrelle nodded sheepishly. She would get it this time.

Adrian lifted his arms once more and shot vines out, aiming only for Cantrelle.

Cantrelle let out a small whimper, but dodged the first vine by ducking. She dodged the second by quickly standing and jumping to the left, but the third vine wrapped around her ankle, and surprised, she fell to the ground, hard.

Adrian decided to test another fear and lifted her high into the air by her ankle, after wrapping another vine around the skirt of her dress so that it wouldn't fall.

Cantrelle let out a scream and started squirming. When her eyes landed on the ground and she realized that falling would hurt, she began to cry. "Please... Put me down..." she whimpered.

Sharon opened her mouth to tell Adrian to comply, but he spoke before her. "I'm sorry, Cantrelle-chan, but you need to get out of this yourself. The fall won't kill you, and if you do it right, you may not even get hurt."

Sharon shot him a glare, but didn't argue. It wasn't a bad idea, but she didn't know what Winter would do to them if she got hurt. She didn't even want to think about it.

Cantrelle began to wiggle, unsure of how to get out of his vines. She pulled herself up and tugged at the one that was around her ankle, only to fail to make it budge. She eventually gave up when the muscles in her back and stomach began to ache. She hung upside down for a few minutes, before she decided that it would be best. "Song Magic: Disspell Magic!" she called. She began to sing a song that she hadn't practiced very much. It was meant to weaken or completely rid the area around her of magic, but she wasn't sure that it was going to work. However, she felt his magic weakening and she began to wiggle until she freed herself. She stopped singing and squirmed in the air, successfully landing on her feet. She wobbled, though, and fell on her bottom.

Adrian and Sharon walked over to her and both offered her a hand to help her up, smiling down at her.

She took both of their hands and returned their smiles. "Did I do okay?" she asked, her eyes sparkling.

"You did great," Sharon said.

"Cantrelle-chan is already getting really strong! I bet she's gonna be S-Class in no time!" Adrian said, grinning.

Cantrelle grinned. "We're gonna be here for a few days, so you'll train me some more, right?"

Both Sharon and Adrian agreed.

* * *

Over the few days that they watched over the mansion, they trained, cooked together and played various board games that the owners of the mansion had. They stayed in the living room of the mansion most of the time, apart from going outside to train and going to the kitchen to cook. Once the mansion owners came back, they questioned why Sharon and Adrian were there, but then proceeded to thank them and pay them for helping them. It was late when the owners came back, so they spent the rest of the night in an inn.

The following day, they went shopping on the town, which was something that turned out to be enjoyable for all of them. By the end of the day, they each had huge, multicolored ice-cream cones in one hand, Cantrelle had a huge black teddy bear that Adrian bought her tucked under her arm, and Adrian had vines coming out of his arm and shoulder that were holding many shopping bags, most of which belonged to Sharon.

"Today has been so much fun!" Cantrelle said, grinning up at the two older mages. "Can I work with you two again sometime?" she asked. She loved making new friends in the guild because it meant more people to train with and more of a chance that she would find someone who could take her on a mission with them.

"We don't always work together, but I don't mind if you wanna work with me lots, Cantrelle-chan," Adrian responded, laughing lightly. This was actually the first time that he had worked with Sharon since being in the guild. His other missions had been with Emery.

"I'd like to work with both of you sometime," Sharon said, smiling at them. She loved being in the guild and she was friends with Lillay, Gwen and Emery, but she hadn't had this much fun in a while. It would probably be fun to go on a mission with all of the people that she normally worked with, but take Adrian and Cantrelle with her. Then again, she didn't know how Adrian would feel about being the only guy, so maybe they would have to take a guy or two with them, too. Then again, that many people would only be good for a large scale mission.

"Really?" Cantrelle's face lit up. "I'm gonna look forward to that~"

* * *

Winter's eyes flared when Cantrelle bragged about Adrian and Sharon helping to make her stronger. "You don't need to be training without me around! What would have happened if you got hurt?!"

Cantrelle backed up a bit, snuggling the bear that she had taken to carrying around for the time being. "I'm sorry, but I really want to be stronger."

"Winter," Sharon started. "You know that she's never going to be able to live up to the insignia on her arm if you don't let her start training," she said. "She's not dead and she's not injured, so why do you care so much?"

Winter glared at Sharon, but before she could snap at her, Adrian spoke up.

"Wi-Winter-sama. Sharon-chan is right. We didn't hurt her and we would never injure her when training her. Many of the strongest mages that everyone knows started when they were younger, possibly even younger than her. You've got to understand that while she is a child, she's being raised in a mage's guild, and so it's only natural for her to want to train and spar like everyone else..."

Winter shot him an evil glare that made him whimper and latch onto Sharon, who didn't exactly look amused by him clinging to her. However, the guild master didn't speak for a moment. Eventually, her eyes dropped to the ground and she sighed. "You know, you two are right and I'm sorry for arguing, my dear children," she said. "I started training when I was five as well..." Her voice faded and she let out a sad sigh. "Cantrelle... I don't mind if you train, just make sure to stay away from those hoodlums that Azura hangs out with. You wouldn't want those attitudes to rub off on you."

"Okay!" Cantrelle smiled brightly. She was finally going to get train with everyone and become a mage. She was so happy. But... "Obaachan... Is something bothering you?"

Winter smiled nicely. "It's nothing important," she said. "Sometimes, fear blocks out rationality, and I am sorry to admit that this happened to me." Before any of the three could question her further, she walked off. In her head, she ran through the people that she had lost to magic, though. Her daughter and her husband were once killed by magic, not to mention the few guild members that were lost throughout the years. Now, the guild was growing and her fear was coming back. With more members came more of a chance of losing people. She cared about each and every one of them so much, and she just wanted them to be safe.

* * *

Emery found herself in the garden that night. Adrian had returned from his mission and they had spent the day together, but now, it was time for her alone time. It was dark and there were rarely ever people in the garden at night, apart from when Sharon or someone fell asleep on the benches. She sat on the grass and pulled her knees up to her chest, staring at one of the flowerbeds. They were healthy flowers, but then again, what was to be expected when you had two nature mages and two old women who loved to spend their time in the garden. Even if the flowers were damaged, she or Adrian could heal them with little magic.

She was lost in her own thoughts, her eyes glazed in clouds and focused on the flowers in front of her and she didn't even hear when the door opened and another person joined her in the garden, lying in the grass a few feet away from her.

Coyote was surprised to see the flowery girl in the garden when it was late night and almost everyone had returned home to rest up before the following day. She was in the garden a lot and they had often shared the space, but he had really just wanted to be alone and it bothered him that she was there. "Shouldn't you be at home, little girl?" he asked in a dry tone.

Emery snapped out of her thoughts and looked around noticed the gray haired male. She knew his name was Coyote, but she didn't know much else about him. She only knew that he could be rather loud when he was with his team, but he was more or less quiet when he spent time in the garden. She was pretty sure that they had never had a conversation before. However, his words annoyed her. "What's it to you?"

Coyote scowled at her. "I want some alone time and it's late so you should be asleep anyway," he said.

"Then go somewhere other than the guild hall. I'm not going anywhere," Emery retorted, hugging her knees and glaring at him.

"Go to hell," he growled.

"Veerrrry mature," Emery said, rolling her eyes.

"Are you tryin' to start shit with me?"

"Psh, it seems like you're the one trying to start something."

Coyote glared. In all honesty, he pictured the girl to be one of the fragile, sweet girls with a soft tone, but she didn't seem to be. "I'd watch it, you know," he hissed.

"Oh, like I'm afraid of you," Emery said, faking a laugh. She could tell he was trying to be intimidating. His team put off that intimidating air, from what she had seen of them, but she didn't care. What was the worst he could do? She wasn't afraid of a guy hitting her, or fighting her. "You know, just because you've got tattoos and muscles and act all big and bad doesn't mean that everyone other than your little gang is gonna stay away from you!" She also knew that Gwen was afraid of Fame, and she wondered how big their heads were from people being afraid of them.

Coyote could feel his blood boiling at that point, but the only thing he could manage as a response was a low, animal-like growl.

"What? Does the big bad wolf not have a response to the delicate flower?" she asked, though she said "delicate" with a sarcastic hiss. She had been referred to things like that and she knew that that was how people saw her, but she hated it.

Coyote snapped at that and in a matter of seconds, he was up and throwing a fist at her.

She dodged and laughed as the flowerbed that she was sitting beside began to grow and wrap around Coyote, restraining him. "I'll leave now, if you want?" she asked, tightening the roots around him so that he could even move.

Coyote scowled so hard that his teeth ground together. "You bitch..." he hissed out. He activated his Animal Seith: Gorilla and attempted to struggle out of the roots, only to find that he was completely restrained.

"So... Are you gonna apologize?" she asked, walking over to him and smirking up at him. "Or will you shrivel and die if you do anything that may be considered remotely nice?"

Coyote scowled at her and continued to struggle against the roots. "I'm gonna kick your ass when I get out of this..."

"Oh... Well... Then I'll just leave, if you can't be nice," Emery said. "Maybe one of your friends will be able to help you, right? Oh, but tough guys don't ask for help either, do they?"

"Go burn in hell, you stupid bitch," he snarled. He couldn't wait to get free so that he could beat her into the ground. If she actually had the guts to mess with him, he'd show her fear.

"Your little intimidating act doesn't faze me at all," she said, releasing the roots and dodging when Coyote started attacking her.

His muscles were pulsing and all of his tattoos were glowing as he attempted time after time to hit her. She was fairly quick, though, and so he failed each time.

The one-sided fight went on for about an hour before Emery stopped moving, realizing that he wasn't going to stop. She let out a small gasp when his fist collided with her cheek and blasted her back. The flowers grew around her and caught her before she crashed into guild hall. Blood dripped from one corner of her mouth and she sighed, wiping at it. She expected him to hit her again and she was prepared for it, but she didn't hear him moving. She had stopped moving because it was obvious that he wasn't going to back down as easily as she thought. He really was a hothead and the worst kind of person.

After a moment, she stood and wiped the blood away again. She walked by him on her way out of the garden. "There. You got to let some anger out, you immature bastard," she whispered.

He let out a throaty snarl, but didn't attack her again. She wasn't fighting back and so he had no interest in fighting her. She hadn't cried or even shown any fear, after being hit, which was something that bothered him. He was going to remark on how much of an annoying bitch she was, but when he turned, she was already gone.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hope you enjoyed the chapter~ Leave a review if you want. And as for Ameryssa, she's my character, and I don't really know what I'm going to do with her, yet, to be honest.

**Review Responses: **

Thank you all so much for reviewing! I've nearly hit 90 reviews and that's amazing! Lots of love from me! :D

**La Maitresse' Dame - **I'm happy that you like the romance in the chapter. I'm relieved that no one said anything about it being rushed. -_-; It's perfectly find if you didn't read it right away~ It's not major to the story, only to a bit of character development.

**starblack17 - **I'm happy that I did a good job with him~

**Junior the Otaku -** It's great that you liked the romantic moment~ As said to La Maitresse' Dame, I'm really happy that no one commented that it was rushed. O_O; I will do more specials when I think that they would fit in and I come up with some of them. c: As for your review for the last chapter, I'm glad you enjoyed everything~ Sometimes chapters will be uploaded close to each other because I may upload one at night and then another in the morning occasionally.

**Nicky Azure - **Hehe. I'm glad that the romance part went over well. Azura will appear either in the next chapter or the chapter after that for some time, and I'm glad I'm right about her not blushing too much~

**LinkinParkTheKillersFan - **I'm really happy that you liked everything in the story. c:

**shadowssj12 - **I can't wait to write them, either~ I think I'm looking forward to that arc and the arc that is after this one the most. XP

**Skye Marvell -** XD I'm happy that it went over well and that it didn't seem rushed~ c:

**LilTimy - **I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter~


	12. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: **Hi guys~ Enjoy the chapter~

* * *

CHAPTER ELEVEN

"This is gonna be so much fun~" Kimi commented, smiling brightly. They were in the kitchen of the guild hall, which was a room whose door was near the bar, though not close enough that one would notice the door to the hall of fame without looking for it.

The kitchen was a large room with many cooking utensils. It was mostly used by Winter and Crystal to cook the items that were on the bars menu, but from time to time, the two food-loving mages would take it over and cook, which was an odd scene, really. While Kimi was tall and lacking in curves or fat, Ikaros was merely four feet tall and all around tiny, yet they were by far the biggest eaters of the guild, when they wanted to be.

They began to cook, deciding that it was a baking kind of day. And there were multiple ovens and plenty of oven space to make lots of sweets if they wished. The counters were packed with various fruits, nuts, flours, sugars, milks, creams and eggs. There were also many giant mixing bowls and baking pans around.

Ikaros nodded. "I agree," she said with a small giggle. She and Kimi had been close since Ikaros had joined the guild a year after Kimi and they had discovered that they shared a mutual love for food and magic, even though they didn't use the same magic.

They began to prepare random sweets and talk casually about missions they had recently done and different foods that they had recently tried.

There was a fuzzy feeling in Ikaros's chest when she remembered that she was going to ask Kimi about the way that Gabe made her feel. She wasn't sure how to even start that kind of conversation. Luckily, she wasn't the one who did start it, as she had spaced out and wasn't responding to Kimi anymore.

"Hey, Ikaros-chan?" Kimi stopped mixing the sugary blob of ingredients that she was mixing and stared at her friend. She could tell that something was bothering her. "You know, you can talk to me if something is bothering you," she said in a softer voice than what she had been talking in. "No one really comes in here apart from Winter-obaachan so I don't think you would be in danger of someone hearing us."

Ikaros nodded. "Kimi... What... What do fuzzy feelings in your chest mean?" she asked, bringing one of her hands to rest on her chest when she asked.

Kimi pursed her lips together as she thought. "Well... It means that your heart is happy, I think," she said, smiling brightly. "Like... I think it's usually someone that you really like that gives you that feeling... Y'know?"

"But... I really like you, and it doesn't happen when I'm around you," Ikaros said. She wasn't particularly satisfied with the answer that Kimi had given her. "...It only happens when I'm around Gabe..."

Kimi giggled. "You misinterpreted what I had said. It shouldn't happen around me~" she then paused. "Well... I mean it could, but it's a good thing that it doesn't!" she added. "It just means that you like Gabe... Erm... Like, in a different way than everyone else," she said. How could she explain having a crush on someone to someone who didn't seem to understand that kind of thing? "Like... You know, people get married and stuff and that's because they have those kinds of feelings for someone."

Ikaros blinked, staring at Kimi with confused eyes. "So...Should I tell Gabe that we should get married, then?" she asked, her voice a bit void of emotion.

Kimi giggled. "Prrrobably not..." she said, laughing again. "That would be considered coming off too strong," she said.

"Heh? What's that mean?" Ikaros asked.

Kimi let out a small sigh. She wasn't getting frustrated, but Ikaros and her were the same age, but they were on completely different levels of understandings when it came to romance. She hadn't expected explaining something to someone to be so difficult. "Okay... So... You like Gabe, and that's cute, and he may or may not like you back, though I bet he would because you're awesome..." she started, throwing the pie that she had made into an oven while speaking. "You don't want to just come out and say you want to marry him... You want to tell him you like him, and then you want to show him and stuff..."

Ikaros still wasn't understanding Kimi very well. "Erm... So how do I show him?" she asked as she also threw a cake that she was making into the oven.

"Well, you already spend lots of time with him, so that's not gonna be it..." Kimi said, thinking hard. "Maybe you should just hug him a lot and kiss him on the cheek and stuff, and maybe you should make him special food," she said. "I don't know Gabe all that well, so I can't tell you what kind of affection he would like."

Ikaros took her words in. "So... What happens once he knows I like him?" she asked.

"Hm..." Kimi thought for a moment and the different personalities of the guys in the guild flashed through her head. "I... I think it depends on what type of guy Gabriel is... Like maybe he will take you to fancy, yummy dinners and buy you lots of stuff. Or maybe he would be super snuggly and want to hug you all the time~ It just depends on how he handles it and what you let him know that you like," she said, twirling around.

"I think it would be fun to get hugged a lot," Ikaros said. She then thought for a moment. "Have you ever liked someone and been this way with a guy?"

Kimi laughed lightly. "It's called dating, for your reference, and nope. I've never actually dated anyone," she said. "However, I do like someone, sorta. I mean, he doesn't like me very much and it's sorta more of just thinking he's super adorable and sorta lonely acting," she said.

"Really?" Ikaros's eyes widened. "Is he a part of the guild?" she asked. "I mean... How do you know if someone doesn't like you?" she had a lot of questions about "dating", but she remembered that Kimi said that she didn't date, so she wondered how much Kimi could actually tell her.

"Yep," Kimi responded. "I think I'm gonna make him some special cupcakes today, because even though he works with people sometime, he's so quiet and I wonder if he's sad for some reason."

"Can you help me to make special cupcakes for Gabe?" Ikaros asked. She didn't think that Gabe was lonely like the guy that Kimi was talking about, but he would probably like special treats, too.

"Sure~ We can put hearts and stars on them and they'll be super yummy," she responded, giggling. "Not that the ones for the rest of the guild won't be super yummy, either," she added, twirling around.

With that, they continued to bake, both of them lost in their own thoughts. They didn't even realize that they were filling the kitchen with sweets until Kimi went to set down a pan of rainbow cupcakes that had heart-shaped and star-shaped sprinkles on them. She had baked them for Jared. She looked around for counter space and frowned when she found none. She looked to Ikaros to see that she was having the same problem, though the cupcakes that she had were heart shaped with blue and pink icing on the top of them.

"Let's just take them to them and tell Winter and Crystal to bring the rest out~" Kimi suggested.

"Okay~" Ikaros said.

* * *

Kimi found Jared on one of the sofas in the main guild hall and smiled brightly when she saw him. He seemed to be relaxing and didn't even notice her until she plopped down on the sofa beside him, the pan of cupcakes in her hands.

Jared blinked repeatedly and turned his attention towards her, his eyes landing first on her eyes and then to the cupcakes that she was holding. He had noticed that the guild hall smelled like a bakery and wondered if she was the culprit, since she seemed obsessed with cupcakes so he wasn't surprised to see her with the cupcakes.

"Hi~" Kimi grinned brightly as she greeted him. "You always seem so lonely and quiet, so I baked cupcakes 'specially for you!" she said, sitting the cupcakes on the coffee table in front of him. "I don't really know what you like in terms of sweets, so I baked you rainbow cupcakes~"

"Um, thanks," Jared said, blushing slightly. It was a bit awkward to have someone just come up to him with a nice gesture, especially a girl. He hesitantly took one of the cupcakes and bit into it. It was really sweet, but definitely tasted amazing.

"Is it yummy~?" She asked, leaning against his shoulder and looking up him with curious amber eyes. She wasn't the type to really have "personal space" issues and she often times forgot that others did.

Jared looked at her through the corner of his eye, his blush deepening. "It is," he responded. He didn't necessarily mind closeness. Well... He actually wasn't sure how he felt about it, but he didn't tell her to move. "Why did you think of me specifically? I'm pretty sure I'm not the only member of the guild who prefers not to talk..."

Kimi tilted her head and thought about his question. "I dunno. I like you~ You helped me and you seem so lonely, which is cute~"

He wasn't sure if she was coming onto him, or if she was trying to be friendly. He also wasn't sure how to respond to her. Such a strange girl. "I'm.. Not really lonely..." he eventually said. It was the truth, but a part of him didn't want her to go away, even though he had no idea how to talk to her. Was she not the complete opposite of him in everything apart from body structure? He imagined her to be the type to surround herself with sunny people like herself.

"Oh, well, I can leave if you'd like," she said, sitting up, though she didn't stand. She did like him. He was different than her, and it was sort of magnetic for her.

He didn't give her an answer to whether or not he wanted her to leave and instead decided to attempt to talk to her, after taking another cupcake. "...Why are you always so cheerful?" he asked. He didn't mean it in an offensive way. He was genuinely curiously as to how she could be so happy. He had been paying a bit of attention to her ever since he saved her, and he had noted that she never had any emotions other than happiness in her eyes.

Kimi was happy that he didn't tell her to leave and she fell back onto his shoulder, giggling when he blushed again. "Well... You know... Life is amazing~ It's a gift we're only given once and stuff, and sometimes... It gets cut short for lots of people~ Like, I mean... And I have amazing friends and a wonderful guild, so even if my life were to end, I'd die happy!"

"What made you join the guild?" Jared asked. From her statement, he gathered that she had had a bad life before joining the guild, and now he wanted to know more. Who had she lost in her life to make her say that it got cut short for a lot of people?

"Winter-chan asked me to," Kimi said. She could tell that he had caught on, but she didn't really like talking much about her past. "I don't like talking too much about it, but since you're curious, my family isn't alive anymore, and my mom and big sister are the ones who taught me my magic," she said. That was the only information about her past that she planned on giving him for the time being. It was actually most of her past, but still, the other details usually brought more sympathy and made her cry when she talked about it too much. She just didn't think crying suited her.

"I'm sorry," Jared said. He had figured as much, but he didn't want to ask any further because she had made it clear that she didn't want talk about it.

"What about you?" Kimi asked. "Why did you join the guild?"

Jared frowned at her question. "That's not exactly something that I like to talk about, either. I can tell you that I was previously a member of Lamia Scale, though," he said.

"Really?" Kimi's eyes lit up. "Did you get to meet anyone like Jura-san or Lyon-san? Or maybe Sherry-san? I really look up to Sherry-san because she's so pretty and strong..."

Jared from slightly, thinking that she was prettier than Sherry, but he wouldn't say something like that. "Erm... Yeah," he responded. He hadn't gotten to work with them that much because he wasn't in the guild very long.

Kimi's smile faded to a frown. "Erm... You didn't meet Natsu-san, did you?" she asked nervously.

Jared gave her a look of inquiry. Did she like Natsu? "No, but why are acting like that?" he asked.

"Well... I'm really scared of meeting Fairy Tail one day because I'm really, really scared of Natsu-san... I mean, he can eat flames! And he's so scary looking!" she said, shivering. "What if, what if he just devoured me or something? I mean, he's a Dragon Slayer, so I bet it could happen!"

No. She didn't like Natsu. For some reason, he felt relieved, which irked him a bit. "...Aren't you friends with a dragon slayer?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, but Hikari-chan is nice, and she eats earth, not flames, and she isn't scary like Natsu-san... I'm so scared of meeting him one day... Winter has said something about us participating in the Grand Magic Games this year, but what if Natsu-san is there...? What if he wants to fight or tries to attack me...?" She was hugging up to him at this point, shaking.

"I haven't met him, but I don't see where you got the impression that he's scary," Jared said, wondering how he was supposed to comfort someone with an irrational fear. "He seems really cheerful like you, so I figured you two would get along if anything."

"Nnnn... I'd be terrified of him... Erm... You or Hikari would have to protect me. I think he would probably devour Mistere-chan, too," she said. She then hesitated before asking, "Is there anything that you're afraid of?"

"Don't we all have fears?" he asked. He couldn't think of anything specific that he was scared of, but even if he did, he didn't think he would feel comfortable enough to tell her.

She sat up. "Yeah, I guess that's true~ I think I'm scared of lots of things, though," she said, laughing lightly. "But Natsu-san would be my biggest fear," she said.

"That would probably change if you met him," he said. If she was scared of someone like Natsu, what would that mean if she were to see the full extent of his magic? He hated the question, but it was something that came to mind. He wasn't going to ask her or reveal his magic, though.

* * *

Ikaros found Gabe outside in the garden, relaxing and she walked over to him, holding the cupcakes. "Hi," she greeted him with a sweet smile.

"Have you been hanging out with Kimi today?" Gabe asked, his eyes on the cupcakes. Ikaros cooked alone sometimes, but the smell of the guild hall told him that she had probably been with Kimi.

"Yeah," Ikaros sat with him, remembering everything that Kimi had told her. "I... I asked Kimi about this fuzzy feeling that I've been having in my chest, and she told me that it's because I like you," she said.

Gabe's eyes widened and he felt his heart starting to speed up, but then he remembered that Ikaros was quite dense, so he didn't need to get his hopes up with romance ever happening between them. "So, you baked me heart-shaped cupcakes?" he asked, seeing the cupcakes as she handed them to him. He took one and started eating it. He had tried Ikaros's cooking countless time and he always enjoyed it so he didn't have to hesitate on eating it.

"Kimi said that if I like someone, I should bake them special things and spend time with them and..." Ikaros couldn't remember what else Kimi had told her.

A part of him had hoped that the moment of them talking about their feelings to each other would be a bit more... Romantic, but he didn't care. He could finally get his feelings out... Once he was certain that she actually liked him. "You do know that Kimi means really like, not friends like you are with her, right?"

Ikaros nodded, smiling brightly. "Yeah. She said that it's the kind of like that people who get married feel when I feel fuzzy... And I don't feel all warm and fuzzy with anyone other than you, so I think I understand!"

Gabe's face flustered and he laughed lightly. "You know I feel the same about you, too, right? I mean, I've tried to tell you countless times since we've been a part of the guild, but you just never seemed to get it or you got distracted..."

"I think I'm starting to understand now, though I think I may have to talk to Kimi more when I get confused. She seems to know a lot about... What did she call it... Dating?" she looked at him with a questioning look as if to get confirmation that she was using the right word.

"Yeah, I guess, if that's what you want to call it," Gabe said. His face hadn't cooled down at all, and he wanted to relish the moment, but he was scared that she still wasn't sure what she was talking about.

Suddenly, Ikaros stretched towards him and planted a quick kiss on his cheek, remembering what else Kimi had told her, finally. She noticed how he jumped and looked astonished and she thought that maybe she had messed up. Kimi did tell her that some guys acted differently, so maybe Gabe didn't like being kissed. Kissing was a slightly strange thing, after all, in her opinion. "Sorry. Kimi told me that I should do stuff like that, too."

"E-e-it's okay," Gabe said, bringing one hand up to his cheek. He then hesitated before saying, "You know, you don't have to listen to everything Kimi says. Eh... If we're gonna d-date, then you should do what you want, y-you know?" It's not that he didn't like how she was asking, but he wanted her to do what she wanted, not what someone told her to do in this kind of situation.

Ikaros let his words sink in. "I have no idea how to do this sort of thing, though," she said in an honest tone. "I've never even thought about dating or anything like that, but I like you, Gabe, so I want to..."

"Don't worry about not knowing how to start. It'll come to you over time," Gabe said, sheepishly wrapping one arm around her. He had been surrounded by girls all of his life and even faked dating a few just to hurt them and get them away from him, so he wasn't necessarily new to dating and he didn't mind if Ikaros wasn't romantic in the least at first. She would get the hang of it.

Ikaros looked at his arm. Her heart was beating fast and she was blushing. His warmth made her feel this way. It was such a strange feeling. Kimi's words had assured that she wasn't sick, but she still had that thought in the back of her head. Then again, Gabe was blushing, too, so if she was sick, so was he, and he would tell her if he was sick. "Okay... I'll try to remember that and not ask her anything!" she said, snuggling up to him, remembering that Kimi had said something about snuggling being okay.

* * *

The entire guild was enjoying sweets and the guild hall was noisy. Azura was walking around with a plate full of assorted cookies, looking for her team as usual, Artemis flying behind her. They weren't at their usual table, which annoyed her. After a moment, she noticed Fame sitting on the staircase, his Mp3 player in one of his hands., Nikko sitting on his head. He always had that thing, but usually when he was messing with it, he had the volume up too loud to be able to hear anything. That was something she had learned over the years. She walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

Fame let out a groan and his thumb flicked across the screen to turn the volume down to where he could hear. He looked up to see Azura and flipped his hair out of his eyes, his eyes narrowing further to show that he was not happy with her interrupting his alone time.

"Where are Monk and Coyote?" she asked, sitting down on the stairs beside him, causing him to scoot over so that their shoulders wouldn't be touching.

"Coyote is in a pissier mood than usual and Monk said that he was going to spend some time training alone," Fame responded.

"Why is Coyote in an even worse mood?" Azura asked.

"Hell if I know," Fame responded.

They sat in silence, apart from the sound of Fame's music coming from his headphones and Azura's eating. Azura's eyes scanned the guild, just taking in everyone who was there. They landed on a girl with sky blue hair who was talking with a girl with dark pink hair. That was the girl she was thinking of. Fame had said that his perfect girl had to have a lot of blue, right? Well, this girl fit that. It was time for her to play matchmaker, even though it wasn't something that she usually did. She stood and ran over to the girl, leaving her plate on the stairs.

"Are you sure you should do this?" Artemis asked as she was approaching the girl.

"I just wanna see how Fame's gonna act. He's probably gonna hurt the girl's feelings, but still. I just wanna see how he acts," Azura said, a smirk on her face.

"Hi, my name is Azura and I'm taking you to meet someone," she said quickly, grabbing the girl's wrist and dragging her over to the stairs.

"Uhm, my name is Mistere, but what are you doing?" the girl asked, stopping when Azura stopped. She had been talking to Hikari about a mission that they had recently returned from and now she was so confused.

"Fame!" Azura called, realizing that he had turned his music back up.

Fame let out a sigh and turned his music down again. "What is it, you?" he asked, looking up. His eyes danced from Azura to Mistere and he instantly looked unamused.

"You said that your perfect girl had to be someone with lots of blue, right?" Azura asked. She then shoved Mistere in front of her. "She's all blue and white. She's perfect for you!"

"...Hi..." Mistere said, staring down at Fame. She was still confused, but she felt like she was on a blind date or something. She hadn't really talked to this guy before and she wasn't really up for being set up with someone that she hadn't met before.

Fame flipped his hair out of his eyes and arched a brow, his eyes taking in Mistere's appearance, dropping from her head to her toes and then back up to her eyes. "Hmph. I can't say that you're not good looking, but judging by your face, you're not into me at all. Unfortunately, I can't blame you, since I don't think we've met. My name is Fame. I'm a blue lightning mage and probably the strongest mage you'll ever meet!"

He was awful. That was Mistere's first impression of him. He wasn't bad looking by any means, but he was arrogant. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. "My name is Mistere," she said. She noticed the Exceed that was on his head. "Are... You a Dragon slayer?"

No," Fame answered. He then smirked. "I could pound any Dragon Slayer into the ground, though," he said.

Azura was a bit offended by that, but she bit her tongue, because she wanted to see Fame's reaction to a girl that met up to his standards, not fight with him right now. She couldn't imagine him dating, and she wanted to see if he had a romantic bone in his body.

"Why did you drag me over here, exactly?" Mistere asked. "I have no intentions of dating someone with his attitude." To her friends, Mistere was cheerful, but she didn't know Fame or Azura, so her attitude was a bit cold.

Fame stood. "Really? I think we should go out sometime. I'm pretty sure you'd change your mind if you gave me the time of day," he said. He didn't mind dating. He had actually dated a couple o girls in the past, but it was something that he usually kept to himself. He flipped his hair away from his eyes and smiled at her, though his smile was still more of a smirk, since one side of his lips curved upward to reveal a deviant grin.

Mistere backed up, but being as she was so lost in her own little thoughts that she forgot that they were standing on a staircase, and she began to fall.

Fame was fast, and caught her by wrapping a hand around her wrist and pulling her back up. "Dreaming about me or something?" he asked, a flirtatious grin on his face.

Mistere hated herself for blushing and she glared at him.

"You owe me or something, isn't that how it goes? I saved you from embarrassment," he said. "So, you should go on a date with me one day, when we're both free."

Mistere glared. "Whatever," she said, snatching her arm away and turning to leave, absolutely mortified. In all honesty, she had a bunch of emotions flooding through her right now. She was embarrassed because she almost fell, she was confused because in all actuality, she had never been on a date, she was annoyed because she didn't just tell the arrogant bastard off, and she was...Flattered. She hated herself for feeling that, but no matter how conceited he was, she had been asked out. She had no intentions of dating him, of course, but she would at least try, and she could always leave if he was too horrible to take, which was what she imagined.

Azura's jaw would have been hanging if she had let it. She turned to Fame and stared at him. "Did you just ask someone out?" she asked. She couldn't imagine that he was the type to just ask girls out. He seemed heartless at times. Heartless guys didn't date, did they?

Fame glanced at her through the corner of his eye. "What about it?" he asked. He could see the astonishment on her face and he found it amusing. "I'm not scared of women or dating or whatever you're making me out to be in your head, y'know. I have really high standards when it comes to the appearance of the girls I date."

"You've dated before?!" Azura's voice came out shrill. She just couldn't picture it.

Fame snorted. "Yeah. I've dated a few times, but I lose interest quickly. I don't like girls clinging to me so if they start waning to get all sweet and clingy, I just start ignoring them," he explained.

Azura's eyes lit with fire and she punched him, sending him flying up the staircase. "You're the absolute worse kind of boyfriend!" she snapped. She hadn't really participated too much in the dating scene, but she would hate if a guy did that to her once she had taken a liking to him. Her rage was building, and she remembered his comment about being able to defeat any Dragon Slayer and she jumped on him, attempting to hit him in the face with a fist.

"Metal Lightning," Fame growled, zapping Azura as his entire body began to glow with blue lightning. He pushed her off of him and stood, dusting himself off and repositioning his earbuds in his ears.

Azura recovered from the attack and charged at him again and he flipped backwards to make it the rest of the way up the stairs. Azura tackled him and there was the loud sound of glass shattering as she tackled him through the second floor window.

Nikko and Artemis floated over to the window, but didn't bother to follow their partners since they were in the middle of fighting.

Fame regained his composure in mid air, pulling himself away from Azura and landing on the ground. "Jazz Lightning!" he called.

A ring of lightning was shot from Fame's hand and looped around Azura, attempting to zap her from all sides. Landing on the ground, she equiped her two blades, New Moon and Full Moon and used New Moon, a black katana to absorb the lightning. She then took out Full Moon, a white blade, which began to glow blue with Fame's lightning. She lashed out with it and returned Fame's lightning to him, though it was lighter in color and more powerful.

Fame leaped into the air and his body sparked with Metal Lightning as he shot forward at incredible speed, throwing a fist at Azura.

Azura spun around and blocked the fist with New Moon, threw her leg up to kick Fame in the ribs and then slashed with Full Moon, shocking him with his own magic.

His Mp3 player lit up and after booming heavy metal music, absorbed the lightning and Fame's body burst with sparks, scarring the land around him. The lightning screeched and shocked everything around him. He grabbed Azura's arm and threw her into the air, the lightning from his body engulfing her and shocking her. The power from the lightning caused parts of his hair to lift, revealing his eyes completely. He bolted into the air and attempted to punch her again.

She blocked with New Moon, but knew this time that it wasn't a good idea to shoot his lightning back at him and instead lashed out with Full Moon, cutting into his shoulder, a bit of blood staining the white blade.

Fame's body continued to electrocute everything around him, and he shot back, he and Azura still in the air. "Indie Lightning!" he called, his voice distorted by the crackling and screeching of his lightning. With that, he threw his arms forward and a horizontal bolt of lightning was hurled at Azura.

Azura absorbed it and then rolled in the air, landing on the ground in a crouched position. She itched to outdue him and use her Dragon Slayer magic, but she didn't like doing so unless she had to, and this was just a semi-friendly spar, so she didn't have to.

Fame jolted forward and attempted to punch her again, but almost instantly, he was incased in a solid snowflake that froze him in his position.

"Heh?" Azura recognized the magic and her face paled as she knew what was coming next.

Winter jumped from the broken window and landed on her feet in her usual slouched over posture. "Did you two hooligans break this window?" she asked, annoyance in her eyes.

"No," Azura answered, not sure why she was lying.

Winter walked up to her and smacked her on the head. "No! Don't lie. Bad hoodlum!" she scolded. She then unfroze Fame, who fell on the ground and didn't move, thinking that if he acted dead, maybe he wouldn't be tortured.

"First off, fork over the jewels for another window!" she said to both of them.

Fame didn't even bother to argue, and when Azura opened her mouth to protest, she was whacked in the head again.

"Now," Winter started once she had tucked the money away into her pocket. She pulled out two standard chef outfits, bot hot pink in color with "Kiss the Chef" in bright bold letters on the front, lip mark designs around the letters, and a matching poofy chefs hat. "Wear these and clean the kitchen!"

Fame stood and stared at them. "What the hell are those? And if we're gonna be cleaning the kitchen, why do we have to wear them? And what the hell makes you think I'm gonna clean the kitchen?"

Azura backed away. "He did it. It was all him. I've paid my dues, so I'm gonna go, now," she said. As she turned to walk away, the ground under her froze and she slipped, falling on her stomach.

Winter grabbed each of them by one wrist, the costumes hanging by clothes hangers on her arms. "Now... You two should get dressed upstairs and then go clean like good children... Unless you would like me to do the dressing for you," she said.

Fame's eyes darkened. He hated everything at that moment. "Y-yes, Winter," he said, taking the outfit. He would find someway out of this. He didn't clean, and he didn't wear pink!

Azura took the suit without words and followed Winter silently.

Once they were upstairs, Winter grabbed one of their wrists and her magic activated, making an clear bracelet that had magic circles slowly spinning around it.

"What's this?" Fame asked.

"It's a lacrima bracelet," Winter said. "I can watch over you two and make sure that you don't try anything sneaky," she explained.

Fame's eyes darkened again. "Couldn't you put this on after I changed or something?" he asked.

"Nope," Winter said. With that, she left, leaving the two troublemakers and their Exceed partners standing in the hallway, staring at their awkward costumes.

"At least it's not revealing," Artemis said, trying to cheer up her angered partner.

"It... C-Could be worse," Nikko said, patting Fame on the back.

"I hate this guild sometimes..." Fame mumbled. He hated taking his hoodie off unless it was a formal occasion, swimming or sometimes sleeping.

"What an evil guildmaster..." Azura said, staring at the lacrima bracelet in hopes that Winter would see the hateful glare that she was giving her.

* * *

**Author's Note: **This chapter was enjoyably bubbly up until the end. Sorry it's short, you know the words... If I add anything else, it'll be too long. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and feel free to review you if want. C:

**Review Responses:**

Thank you all so much reviewing! I've almost reached 100 reviews, and that makes me really happy. c:

**La Maitresse' Dame - **Heh. Winter is supposed to be kind hearted, but she treats Cantrelle really strictly. She's also really mean to the people who get Cantrelle hurt or who mess up the guild hall. Though I don't know if you would consider it necessarily mean as much as playful punishment. Crystal doesn't associate much with anyone. :U

**LinkinParkTheKillersFan - **I'm glad you like the chapter. Sorry if I haven't been giving some of the characters as much attention. T_T I try not to forget about any of the characters and I try to be detailed with all of them, apart from their magics.

**Junior the Otaku - **Heh. Ameryssa was a totally random idea and Flare was the first mage who isn't bad but isn't playing a major role in the anime that came to mind. That's why I'm not sure what to do with her, yet. Coyote in one-on-one time with a female is hard to write. ;A; That could be why it came off as awkward. The scene with Fame in this chapter may do the same. I struggle with Coyote and Fame in any situation that may seem romantic. :U

**iheartfairytail21 - **I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter~ I hope I did Cantrelle right.

**LilTimy - **I'm really glad that you liked the chapter and understood Winter's point of view. c:

**Nicky Azure - **I'm glad that you liked the chapter and I'm glad the short scene with Azura portrayed her correctly. The alliance with the other guilds won't happen for a long time, because the battle with Banshee Tear will be the final arc of the story. However, the canon characters will be appearing in a couple of arcs, maybe before then. c:

**Barrett M107 - **Thanks for the compliments. I hope I'm getting all of the characters right. c: I'm really glad that you feel as if I portrayed Coyote right in the scene. I was a little iffy on it, to be honest. ;A;


	13. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ Almost done with this arc. Just a few more scenes that I wanted to push out before the next arc. I can't wait! The next arc will start on either chapter fourteen or fifteen. C: Anyway, enjoy this chapter!

* * *

CHAPTER TWELVE

"Thank you so much again, Silver Griffin!" the old man told Gwen and Leo, who had just finished delivering a carriage full of shipments to him. It was the first mission that Gwen had taken since she had been attacked on the mission that she had taken alone and she had begged Leo to go with her, since Emery was out with Adrian and Nezuko was out with Eira and Marionette. It hadn't really taken as much begging as she had put into it, but she wanted to stress that she didn't feel strong enough to go on a mission alone.

"You're welcome!" Leo said, bowing politely before parting ways with the man, Gwen falling into step beside him. They were in a town that wasn't that far away from Nadeshiko, but they had had to travel to the harbor first, and then back through Nadeshiko to the village, so the mission had taken a couple of days.

Once they had left the client, Leo turned to Gwen. "You wanna go out on a date or something?" he asked in a joking manner. He was becoming more and more fond of Gwen's blush and he just loved t tease her.

Gwen looked up at him, her cheeks tinted red just as he had expected and hummed nervously. "Well... I... I think... We should just get back to Nadeshiko," she said. She sometimes found it hard to turn him down. He didn't seem like a bad guy apart from the flirting, but Nezuko and Emery both instructed her not to date him, and Nezuko had always taken care of her, and Emery was her best friend and she was smart.

Leo grinned and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "C'mon. I can see that you think I'm hard to resist, damsel," he said, pulling her close to him and laughing when she blushed even more. She was adorable and he loved it.

Gwen cherished his warmth for a moment while she searched for something to say to turn him down. "You know, we're, um, in public," she said, pulling away from him and putting distance in between them. She wrapped her arms around herself and let her eyes fall to the ground. If they could get on the train, then she could read and just get lost in her books and not worry about the trouble that she was in.

Leo blinked and then sighed. He knew that one of the reasons that he wouldn't give him the time of day was because of Nezuko and Emery, who both seemed to hate him. He liked Gwen, though. Sure, he flirted with other girls, but it was just in his nature to flirt with other women. He wanted to ask her why she was nineteen but still loved to let others tell her what to do, but she was sensitive, and he didn't want to hurt her feelings.

They walked in silence to the train station and got on the train. Leo thought about sitting in the same seat as her just to tease her, but she was trying to distance herself from him more and more, always making up some kind of excuse. When they were younger, she didn't do it as much, but the older they got, the worse it seemed to get. It was annoying.

Gwen sat in front of Leo and dug in her backpack for the most recent romance novel that she had came across and cracked it open, beginning to read.

Leo couldn't help himself anymore. He cleared his throat to get her attention and when she looked up at him. "Why do you always let your friends tell you what to do with your life?" he asked, the tone of his voice surprisingly serious.

Gwen's eyes widened and she scrambled around in her mind for something to say. "Well... Emery-chan is really smart and Nezuko-chan had always looked after me, so I don't think she would tell me something that wasn't for the best..." she said, slowly, her cheeks tinting once again.

"And you don't think you're smart and old enough to make decisions for yourself?" Leo asked, his tone still somber.

"Well... I do... But at the same time, I'm not really that great with social situations and stuff, so maybe it's best that I listen to what they tell me," she responded, hugging her book to her chest and letting out a nervous hum. It was rare for her to hear Leo without a light tone to his voice, and she didn't like it.

"Not good in social situations?" Leo asked. "You make friends really easily and a lot of people in the guild know you because you like ask them about their magic." He was being honest. Gwen had always been the type to approach the new guild members to ask about their magics, once she found traces of it and researched it.

Gwen frowned as his words. "...I... I don't know. I don't want my first relationship to be with someone who flirts with everyone..." her eyes dropped so that the parts of her hair that weren't held back with a ribbon shaded them. "It-it would be really hurtful," she admitted. She wasn't going to admit that she was already jealous of the way he acted towards pretty much everyone woman apart from Nezuko. It would only edge this situation along further. She knew her feelings, and she had even told Nezuko and Emery, but she wasn't going to tell him.

Leo let out a sigh. "You know I'd try and stop, right?" he asked.

"I couldn't be sure of that," she responded, still not looking up. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to control this situation and make it in her favor. She could listen to Leo and probably get hurt in the end, or she could listen to Emery and Nezuko and then continue with this horrible jealousy and nervousness that she had when she was around Leo. Then again, wouldn't she be dealing with jealousy no matter who she sided with?

Leo didn't look amused at first, but then he grinned. "Alright. I'll continue trying to make you fall for me, and one day, it'll happen!" he said boastfully.

Gwen found herself blushing, and her face dropped. She didn't respond to him and instead opened her book and began to read. However, the novel left a bitter taste in her mouth once she started getting to the point where the heroine was meeting her "prince charming", so she closed her book and tucked it back away in her backpack. She then pulled up her Technician screen and began to research various things, such as the magic that she had traced when they were walking around, but the only thing that she found that was remotely interesting was something called "Hair Magic", but after reading up on it for a few minutes, she sighed, losing interest in it. At least Leo had lightened up again, so the entire train ride wouldn't be as awkward as it had been.

"We should train together sometime," Leo suggested. "I bet we could come up with some amazing spell combos!"

Gwen dropped her Technician screen and looked over at him. "I'd like that, but I really don't think that training with someone like me is going to help you to get any stronger," she said.

"Nah. I'll get stronger, and I'll get to have some fun with you, so it's a win for both of us if we train!" he said.

* * *

"You six probably know why you've been gathered, unless you suffer from memory-loss" Winter said, smiling brightly at the six S-Class mages that were gathered in the hall of fame. It had taken her two weeks to finally get them together, but she had managed. This was the first year that they had all gathered like this, but they had each been told individually what her plans were, so they weren't confused.

"Time for the S-class exams that you stole from Makarov?" Stark asked, grinning. He had been an S-class wizard for seven years, and when Winter had decided that it was time, she had simply appointed him to be an S-class mage. He was the first of his generation to become S-class, too.

Winter laughed lightly. "That's right," she said, just as Crystal walked in, standing beside her. She gave her sister one glance and then turned her attention back to the S-Class wizards. She had gotten the idea for a special trial and a special place for Silver Griffin years ago when she met with the guild masters of the legal guilds of Fiore towards the end of the year and Makarov was talking about how it was almost time for his S-class exams. She and Crystal had then tracked down a couple of their old friends who used Earth and Wood magic, and over the years, they had made Silver Griffin's "special place". This would be the first year that they would have an entire trial for the S-class class wizards, and it was the perfect year because she had a total of eighteen wizards that she wanted to test.

"So... How is this gonna work?" Azura asked. This was the second time that she had spoken to her grandmother since her "punishment" for being such a hoodlum. She hadn't been an S-class wizard long. She and Sharon had been tested at the same time, given a slightly difficult mission that they had to work together on to complete. That was only last year when they were promoted.

"You six will be testing your guild mates," Crystal said. "No matter who you end up testing, you will be going all out on them. If we deem that you are not, you will lose your standing as an S-class mage!"

Danny stirred uncomfortably at that. What if Lillay was the one he had to test? Would he be able to go all out on her? He wasn't sure.

"But what about the unlucky bastard that gets her?" Stark asked, attempting to joke with Ice, who was leaning against the wall, staying away from everyone, Cross floating beside her. "Are you gonna make her go all out?"

"If she needs to," Crystal said. "What I mean is that if you take it easy on them just because they're your friends or lovers, you will lose your rank. I don't expect that to be a problem for her."

Ice let out a small snort, showing that Crystal was probably right.

"I am not the one who made this rule," Winter said. "This was Crystal's idea, but I'm not really worried about any of you messing up on it apart from Danny and Ikaros," she said, her eyes landing on each of the mages. "I trust that everyone else will have fun with whoever they end up fighting."

Danny opened his mouth to say something, but Crystal interrupted him. "You may not tell anyone about the S-class exams or the role that you play. As such, you may not warn your lover that you may fight them!"

Danny shifted uncomfortably and nodded silently. She had known what he was going to ask. He didn't want to fight Lillay. He didn't mind sparring with her as they had done sometimes, but he didn't want to fight her at full power.

"You don't think this is a little unfair?" Sharon asked. "I mean, we're S-class and they're not, so if we go all out, we may hurt them." She was lying on one of the sofas, relaxing. She didn't mind having to fight a friend or anything, but she wasn't completely okay with hurting a guild member.

"If they can't beat an S-class wizard, then they're not worthy of the title, and as long as you don't kill them, they'll be fine," Crystal said.

"Please don't give them injuries that will not heal over time," Winter said, giving her sibling an annoyed glare. "Go all out, but do not cripple them or make them lose a limb... Have some heart." She didn't think it would be a problem. Even for the seemingly heartless Ice, who most likely cared about the guild to an extent. She just didn't like being social.

"I don't see why that would even matter. It's their loss," Crystal said.

"Shut up. I'm the guild master, not you," Winter retorted in a slightly childish manner.

"So... Anything else we need to know?" Ikaros asked.

"I'll explain everything," Winter said as she began to explain exactly how the S-class exams that she had prepared would work.

"Sounds awesome!" Stark commented. "I hope I get to fight someone cool," he said.

* * *

Gwen and Leo walked into the guild hall to see that it was empty apart from Winter, Crystal, Cantrelle, and twenty-two other mages and their Exceeds, if they had one.

"What's going on?" Gwen asked, surprised by the silence. There were a good bit less than 100 members in the guild in total, so it was never overly crowded, but only seeing a small number of mages was unnerving.

"And the last two have returned from their mission!" Winter said, smiling brightly. "Please, have a seat, children," she said.

Gwen and Leo exchanged glances, but sat at a table and turned their attention to the front of the guild hall where Winter was standing with six mages and Crystal.

"Why are they with her?" Leo asked.

"I dunno... But they're all S-class," Gwen said. "I think..." she added sheepishly.

"You eighteen are gathered who today because I have an announcement for you!" Winter said, smiling brightly. A few people stirred and exchanged glances and Winter continued to talk. "You all have been selected to undergo Silver Griffin's first S-class wizard trials!"

Gwen let out a whimper. "M-me? S-class?" she mumbled, her thin arms hugging herself.

"Now... What does this mean?" Winter asked. "You all will be visiting The Griffin's Cavern, and you will be the first members of the guild to ever see it!"

Crystal spoke. "Upon talking everything out, we have decided that you are the best fit to undergo the first trials. However, there are too many of you, so we'd like to ask that you form a partnership with someone. It cannot be an Exceed, as Exceeds are instantly promoted with their human partners," she explained. "You have two months to claim a partner and train. We'd prefer if you take missions to take short ones, because we need all of you here in two months..." She then turned to the six that were standing with her. "That includes you, S-class mages."

"We will be spending a month at the Griffin's Cavern, and the S-class exam will take most of that time," Winter said. "Please inform me when you have claimed a partner, as I would like to keep track and make sure that everyone finds a partner."

"If you're partner fails, you will fail too, so pick wisely!" Crystal called.

"Is Cantrelle-chan participating?" Kimi called, noticing that Cantrelle was with them.

"No, but she will be on the island because I don't want to leave her here for a month," Winter said.

"Good luck, everyone!" Crystal called, though it was in a sarcastic manner.

Leo turned to Gwen, who was shaking, tears in her eyes. "Partners?" he asked, grinning at her.

"Huh?" she looked over at him with wide, glossy eyes. "You... You'll fail... I... I don't fight..." she said, sniffling.

"Nah. We'll win," Leo said confidently. "So, yes or no?" he asked again.

"Mmm... Are you sure?" she asked. He was strong, and she would feel better with him than anyone else, but she didn't want him to fail to become S-Class because of her. She also wondered how annoyed Nezuko would become when she told her that she'd be working with Leo.

"I'm positive," Leo said, grinning and tossing an arm around her. "I think it would be awesome to work with you."

"O-okay," Gwen nodded.

"Awesome! Let's go tell Winter!" Leo said, standing, a bright grin on his face. He had confidence in Gwen. She would have a nearly infinite source of electricity with him around and she had the ability to map out the area and read opponents, if there were any.

* * *

Marionette was sitting with Nezuko and Eira, debating on who would work with who when Kai approached her.

"Oi, you," Kai said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We should work together for this thing. We can get our Unison Raid down by then and breeze through this thing."

Marionette turned and glared at him for touching her, but then glanced back at her team.

"Eira and I can work together if you work with him, so it won't be a problem," Nezuko said, giving her a reassuring smile.

"I agree..." Eira commented.

"Fine," Marionette said, though her eyes showed that she was unamused. She wasn't sure how having to put up with him and trying to become an S-class wizard was going to work out for her. However, she understood that if they managed to perfect a Unison Raid, it would be rather easy for them to work together.

"Hell yeah!" Kai grinned at her. "Between our good looks and awesome light magic, nothing's gonna stop us!"

Marionette wasn't sure whether to feel prideful at his compliments or annoyed at his arrogance, so she followed him without a word to talk to Winter about them being a team.

"Should we go?" Nezuko asked, turning to Eira. She had noticed that something seemed off about her friend, and she was hoping to ask her about it soon. Maybe it would be best to do so before the exams so that maybe, just maybe, it would be off of her mind before then.

"Hm," Eira nodded and followed Nezuko to where Winter was standing.

* * *

"Y-Yuki," Sara started, once the announcement was over. She couldn't pretend that she wasn't nervous about the exams. She hadn't expected to be selected for them, either, but she knew that the only one that she would feel safe working with be Yuki. She hoped that he felt the same.

"We need to go tell Winter that we're working together, right?" Yuki turned to her, grinning. He didn't think that it was odd for them to be selected and he was looking forward to it, even though Winter and Crystal hadn't given them much information.

Sara's face lit up. "Yeah," she said, nodding. She then hesitated before asking, "Do you think we have a chance in this thing? A lot of people in here are older than us and probably stronger than us..." She looked around as she spoke. She and Yuki were fourteen, and while there were some people around their age, there were also some mages who were in their twenties or almost in their twenties.

"I think we'll do fine," Yuki said, grinning. He was standing and his tail was swaying back and forth eagerly. "We've got a lot of training to do, though!" he said. He thought that they needed to find a way to work together. She had said that if either f them fail, they would both fail, so they would have to make sure that they were completely in sync. That wouldn't be that hard, though, since they worked together all the time.

Sara loved his positive attitude. It was inspiring. Smiling brightly, she followed him to where Winter was standing.

* * *

"JARED~~~" Kimi tackled Jared, who had stood up to walk over to the sofas, from behind, hugging him tightly enough to force a small cough from his lungs.

He looked over his shoulder at her. "Erm, hi," he said, arching a brow.

"We should work together on the S-Class exams!" she said. "Both of your friends are S-class already, so you're probably lonely!"

"Why do you see me as lonely?" he asked in a soft, strained voice, as he couldn't breath with her death grasp on him. She released him and he coughed and gasped when air filled his lungs.

"I dunno~" Kimi said, smiling brightly. "So, will you work with me? I think we would have a good chance of winning!"

"Do you even know what type of magic I use?" Jared asked. He couldn't recall her ever seeing him battle.

"Nope, but I'm sure you're really strong," Kimi said. "And I'm not super-strong, but I'm fast and if I have to, I can use my Cosmic magic to blind the foe!"

"Are you sure that we're even going to be fighting other people?" Jared asked. They hadn't specified that they would be fighting. They hadn't even really told them what they would be doing on the exam at all.

"No, but I think we'll work well together and I really wanna work with you, so please say yes," Kimi said, her eyes shimmering happily.

"Sure," Jared said. She was right in that both of the people that he worked with were S-class, so he didn't have anyone in mind that he could partner with. He didn't see harm in working with her. He needed to get stronger before he did, though. He would make sure to get a lot stronger before then, even though he wasn't sure to what extent he'd even have to use his power. It just depended on what they had to do.

"YAY~ You're so nice!" Kimi said, hugging him tightly, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Should we go tell Winter?" she asked.

"S-sure," he stammered out. Though she had talked to him quite a few times over the past couple of weeks, he wasn't used to being hugged like this. He still didn't return the hugs, either, but she didn't see to mind.

"So, what type of magic do you use?" Kimi asked as they walked over to Winter. She was curious to know that before the exams, just so that she would know what to expect. She knew that he had to be pretty strong to have beaten Darren back then when he saved her.

"Dark magic," Jared answered simply. He didn't really want to reveal anything more than that, at least not for that moment.

"Sounds neat," she said, giggling. "I use Candy Fire and Cosmic Magic," she said. "I think we'll work well together, but I don't know if we would be able to do anything like a Unison Raid."

"We'll be fine," Jared said. He didn't plan to do his training with her around. It would probably scare her off. He was going to leave for some time; two months was plenty of time for him to train, and he had confidence that Kimi didn't need to train with him for them to be able to work well together. He wasn't going to tell her, though.

* * *

"Well, looks like Kimi decided to run off," Hikari said, watching as Kimi joined up with a guy that she had apparently taken interest in. She didn't mind, though. It would just mean that she and Mistere would be working together for the exam, which was fine with her as long as it was fine with Mistere. She turned to the blunette mage. "Are we gonna be working together?" she asked in a cheerful voice.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Mistere said confidently. Even though their magics weren't the type that could be made into a Unison Raid, they had worked together countless times and they would know how to work together in just about any situation.

* * *

Emery's eye twitched when she noticed that Gwen had already paired up with Leo. She didn't seem to have any interest in taking her advice. Her mind then went to Adrian, but she realized that he hadn't been selected, which irritated her further. She let out a small sigh, looking around for someone who seemed to be struggling to find a partner. However, she didn't have to look far, as Lillay tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to see the Ice Dragon Slayer with a determined look on her face.

"Wanna team up for this?" Lillay asked, placing a hand on her hip. She was a bit taken aback by the fact that she wouldn't be able to team up with Izzy, Danny, or Sharon, but Emery was strong and they were friends, so she had calmed down.

Before Emery could respond, Winter whistled to make everyone start talking. "I stated that Exceeds will not count at partners, but they will not be participating at all. I will be watching over all of the Exceeds, including those that are normally paired with the S-class wizards. We were unsure about this, but we feel that it is the best course of action!" The guild master felt bad for taking the cat-like beings from their partners, but it would give some of the S-class wizards an unfair advantage, and they had already said that Exceeds would rank up along with their partners. It was just the best course of action.

Izzy let out a small whimper at this. "So I won't even be able to watch you fight?" she asked Lillay.

"It doesn't look like it," Lillay said. She wasn't happy about this, either, but at the same time, she did understand why the rule was put into play. With Izzy, she could fly, and it would be easier to dodge attacks. Some people, including Emery, wouldn't have that advantage.

"I'll work with you," Emery said, smiling kindly. "I don't know how well we're gonna be able to do. Your magic kills my magic," she said, laughing lightly. However, this was one of her concerns. If they attacked at the same time, Lillay's magic would kill whatever plant life she created and that would just make her waste magic.

"We'll just have to train and work on coordinating our attacks so that our magics don't collide," Lillay said. She was confident. Besides, they had two months to train, so they would be able to come up with something.

* * *

Coyote, Fame and Monk had spent some time arguing about who wanted to work with who. All of them had agreed that either of the other two would make them weaker and cause them to lose. The arguing went on for about thirty minutes and most of the people around them had already told Winter who they were going to work with.

Monk wouldn't have minded working with Nezuko because she probably wouldn't be too weak for him, but she had already paired up with one of the females that she normally worked with, so she was out of the question. He didn't really know anyone in the guild apart from Coyote, Fame and Azura, so he didn't want to back down from the argument.

They stopped arguing when Gabe approached Fame and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, Fame... My normal partner is already S-class and I've known you for a while, so I was wondering, since your team has an odd number of members, if you'd like to team up for this?" He didn't really want to work with Fame, as they had never really gotten along, but it appeared that the only ones who hadn't declared a partner were those three, none of which were tolerable. He had known Fame the longest of the three, and that was why he chose him.

Fame shrugged and tossed his hair out of his face. "Whatever. That works. If not I'll probably be here all day arguing with these two bastards," he said. He knew Gabe and didn't hate him, though he didn't feel close to him, either. "We'll have to train together to get used to our fighting style. Don't think we've trained together since we were kids..." he said.

"Yeah," Gabe agreed.

"Well, looks like we're workin' together," Monk said to Coyote, grinning. "You better not get in my way, though."

"Tch. Shut the hell up," Coyote snarled, though he followed Monk, Gabe, and Fame to where Winter was standing.

* * *

"So... You gonna give them a run for their money?" Stark asked, walking over to Ice, who was on her way out. While Stark was the fist S-Class wizard of their generation, he had no doubt that if Ice had joined earlier, she would have been. She was practically a prodigy. She had joined the guild six years ago, when she was around ten, and hadn't socialized with anyone. Winter had given her a mission her a difficult mission when she was eleven, and she had completed it flawlessly, making her the youngest wizard to become S-class, though Stark was only a year older when he became S-class.

Ice looked over her shoulder, no emotions in her eyes. She didn't intend to talk to anyone. She was doing this solely for Winter because the guild master had started pleading with her two months ago, much earlier than she had everyone else. She didn't turn down the guild master, especially when she was begging. She turned her attention away from Stark and continued to leave the guild, Cross following behind her.

Stark sprinted forward and grabbed her shoulder. "You know, we're not mean people; you don't have to be scared of us. We're fri-"

Stark's sentence was interrupted as Ice roundhouse kicked him, sending him flying back into the back wall of the guild hall. "Don't... Touch..." she hissed under her breath, wiping at her shoulder where his hand had been.

Stark's temper flared and he charged forward with his fist coated in stone. He hadn't done anything more than touched her, so there was no reason for her to lash out that much. He was trying to be nice to her because she didn't seem to have any friends, but he would not stand for that kind of attitude. He threw a fist at her, but it was blocked by a scythe that she summoned.

Ice threw him back with her scythe and glared at him. "I don't like people..." she said flatly.

Cross spoke up next. "Ice would prefer if you did not talk to her. She is not interested in gaining friends with anyone in the guild and she does not like to be touched," the Exceed explained in a voice that was equally emotionless.

Stark growled, but he didn't attack again. "Why the hell would you join a guild if you don't want to be around people?" he asked, his voice coming out in what was almost a bark.

Ice glared at him. If she wasn't in the guild, she may have been a bit more violent, but she didn't want to disrespect Winter.

"Ice was told by someone to join a guild," Cross responded. "We will be leaving now. If you try to attack again, violent action may be taken."

Stark growled as the two walked off, but he listened to them. He, too, had too much respect for Winter and as such he did not want to have a violent confrontation in the middle of the guild hall.

As they walked out, Cross communicated telepathically with Ice so that no one would hear them. "You know, I don't see the harm in making one or two friends within the guild. Most people don't even know who you are, and they're eventually all going to want to challenge or learn something about you. If you make a friend or two in the guild, maybe it would stop..."

Ice glanced at her Exceed partner through the corner of her eye and then looked forward again. "Not interested in the least," she responded telepathically. She didn't want to make friends. She just wanted to become stronger and perfect her magic. She had no need to form bonds with people, and as such, she wasn't going to do it.

* * *

Gwen, Nezuko and Emery found themselves at the house of Nezuko and Gwen and they were sitting in the living room, Gwen on the floor with a few different books in front of her and Nezuko and Emery on the sofa.

"So, who did you two partner with?" Gwen asked, a bright smile on her face. Winter had announced that all the teams had been formed so she knew that they had picked their partners already.

"I'm gonna be working with Eira. We're supposed to be meeting up tomorrow to start training," Nezuko responded. She realized that by the way Gwen's question was directed at her specifically, that she must not be working with Emery, which bothered her.

"I'm working with Lillay," Emery said. "Not the best combination, even though we are friends. We'll get it to work, though, I hope."

"You're not working with Leo, are you?" Nezuko asked, suspicion in her eyes.

Gwen blushed and then hummed nervously before nodding. "I am, but I don't think that's a bad thing... Maybe I actually have a chance to make it to S-class if I work with him..."

"You know, he's only gonna get in your head more, if you work with him, since you're going to be seeing him every day that you decide to train," Emery pointed out.

"Yeah, I don't see why you didn't decide to work with Emery," Nezuko said .

Gwen's blush deepened. "Well... My magic works really good with Leo's... I've told you that... And I think that that's the only way I may come close to being an S-class, even though I don't think I deserve to be S-class." She wanted more than anything to tell them that she didn't care anymore about what they thought in regards to her and Leo. She was tired of hearing about it from them and from Leo. She just wanted time to think everything out for herself. Right now, she couldn't even focus on that, though. She needed to train for the exams.

"How the hell could you like someone like that, anyway?" Nezuko asked.

Gwen chewed her lip, before pushing all of her courage forward to say something mean. "Well.. Aren't you in the same situation? I mean, the guy with sunglasses that comes around sometimes... He's really self-centered, and while he doesn't flirt with lots of girls, he has a very noticeable flaw that he flaunts around." She instantly felt bad once she had gotten her mean sentence out and she backed down. "I-I'm sorry... I know you're probably too strong to fall easily, so you'd know... I-I didn't mean to say that."

"At least you know that I would never be so stupid as to fall for the first guy that's give me the time of day," Nezuko said, rolling her eyes. "I'm a rat girl. I accept that no one is ever going to give me that kind of attention and I'm fine with it. You could probably find someone nice, if you would stop chasing after Leo."

Emery sighed. "You're never gonna get him out of her head. I think you should just give it up," she mumbled. "It's like she's in love with him or something..."

Gwen's face would have matched an apple when she heard Emery's words. "N-no. I don't... I mean... I'm not... I don't think," the last part of her words come out in a tiny squeak of a mumble .

Nezuko snorted. She thought about saying something about how pathetic Gwen was, but she decided that it wasn't right for the moment. She would just let the girl get what was coming to her in the end.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Sorry that it was a bit chaotic, but yeah. Someone asked a while back if they were gonna have S-class exams, and I took the idea because it's the perfect opportunity to make the characters bond and to show off some of their skills. And the next chapter or so is gonna go a bit different as I will be just showing a random scene from the team's training, and I'll probably have more characters appear in the chapters than usual.

**I will be saying this again, but in terms of the exams, everything has been planned out using a random number generator! I did not choose who becomes S-class or anything more than the teams that were decided in this chapter. I used a random number generator because I didn't want to get accused of showing partiality towards characters who did better in the exams. It is random, so please don't hate me if your character or a character that you like does badly in the exams!**

**Review Responses:**

Yay! Over 100 reviews! Thank you all so much! Lots of love from me, as always. c:

**La Maitresse' Dame - **Hehe. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. And Winter's pervy and torturous side will probably show again. XD

**Junior the Otaku - **I like fluffy romance a little too much. XD I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter so much~ I hope me showing that Leo can be serious in this chapter is okay. c:

**Lazyboredom -** I'm really happy that I made a good portrayal of Jared. The quiet, less romantic characters can be a bit hard for me to capture in romantic moments, so it makes me happy when I get it right. :D

**LilTimy -** I'm glad you liked the chapter. I hope I portrayed your characters well in the last chapter and I hope that it's okay that Gabe will be paired with Fame for the S-class exams. It was the only one that really suited him, since it was someone that he's known since they were younger. Winter's pervy mischievous side will show more. XD

**LinkinParkTheKillersFan - **I'm really glad that you like the chapter and that you don't think I'm neglecting characters too much. :D

**shadowssj12 - **Yay! 100th review! Hehe... Hope you liked the chapter! c:

**Rin Ice Miyako -** Yes, Kimi has an amazing impression of Natsu, and it's gonna be loads of fun to write out their meeting. XD Also, I hope I portrayed Ice okay in this chapter.

**Nicky Azure - **Glad you liked the chapter. I hoped it's okay that I tortured Azura. ;A; No character apart from maybe Cantrelle is safe from Winter's punishment.


	14. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ Nearing the end of the arc. :D

Enjoy the chapter!

*****PLEASE READ*****

**I'm going to hang out at my cousin's house Saturday and won't have my laptop, and so Sunday's update will be either non-existent or at a different time.**

**Also, the setting is going to change for the arc. It's gonna be a cave/mountainous area and if you want your character's clothing to change, then you should say so in your review or PM me. Please do so before the next update if possible otherwise I may not get the changes noted before I write the chapter starting the arc.**

* * *

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The teams were spread all over the place, all finding a place that would be comfortable and suited for them to train at. Some had even taken the train to go somewhere else other than Nadeshiko. Through it all, all of the teams were training within a week of the announcement of the exams.

Lillay and Emery had decided to travel by foot to a clearing that was north of the town and they always brought food for a picnic, which they had at the end of the day each day. Their training wasn't going great, to say the least. Some of Emery's stronger attacks could withstand Lillay's ice, but she didn't want to have to use only her more powerful spells because it would wear her out too fast.

Today, she had brought Adrian with her to help her perfect a spell that he was teaching her, because his magic was stronger than hers and could withstand the ice.

"Emery-chan... You're so terrible at this..." Adrian whined when Emery attempted to use a magic that was similar to his "Jane's Song" and cut herself with the blade-like petals, which see did not seem to have complete control over like he did.

"Shuddup, Nii-chan," Emery mumbled, wiping at the blood that was on her arms and legs.

"So... Why do you insist on getting this spell down again?" Lillay asked. She didn't know that Adrian's magic could withstand ice, as they hadn't informed her.

"Adrian's magic is better than mine," Emery said, wiping blood from her arms again and sighing. "His is resistant to elements..."

"Really?' Lillay asked. "You should let me see!" she said, jumping back. "I bet it can't take my Ice Dragon's Roar!"

"Hm...?" Adrian stepped forward. "I'd like to test that!" he said, grinning.

With that, Lillay called out "Roar of the Ice Dragon!" while Adrian called out " Jane's Song!"

The petals danced around Adrian and then dashed forward into the flurry of ice and snow that came from Lillay's mouth. They became frozen, but they dashed through the flurry and would have cut into Lillay if she hadn't jumped back just in time to dodge them. The blades chased her, and she coated her fist with ice and punched them again, glad that they fell when she did.

"Why aren't you in the exams?" Lillay asked as she landed on the ground.

"I've taken less than five missions," Adrian responded. "Winter-sama said that she couldn't judge my ability as a mage unless I started taking more missions... That's okay, though. I've talked her into letting me go and just stay at the camp with her!"

"So, do your petals just withstand one attack or something?" Lillay asked, wondering why her punch had taken care of them.

"Mmhmm... Usually. Unless it's a weaker mage or a really strong mage," he explained. "I shouldn't be training with you, though. Emery-chan, do you want to try the spell again?" he asked.

"Yeah," Emery said, sighing. She was envious, and it was hard to hide. She stepped in beside Adrian and lifted her arms. "Amethyst Blades!" she called as purple petals danced around her. She shot palms of her hands forward and the blades flurried in every direction, cutting her and not locking on to anything. She groaned and turned to Adrian. "Can you show me again? This will be the last time today..."

Adrian held his arms up and said, "Jane's Song!" The petals danced around him and Emery noticed that his attack was even more graceful than hers. They weren't so chaotic. It was almost hypnotizing. He pushed his palms forward and the blades danced at his command, forming a heart in the sky before scattering and disappearing in little flashes.

Emery focused and held her arms forward, letting her eyes close. "Amethyst Blades!" she called. The purple petals appeared again and before sending them forward, she focused on controlling them, only to find that she didn't know how. It took so much magic to keep them there, too. It was almost painful. She grimaced and the petals disappeared before she even attacked with them.

"Are you okay?" Lillay asked, noticing the pained look in her face. She didn't really have to train on new spells. She only wanted to work on getting more coordinated with her magic and getting faster, maybe. She hadn't learned new spells in a long time and she didn't really have anyone that could teach her.

"Why are so damn good at this?" Emery snapped, lashing out at Adrian.

"Heh?" Adrian was taken aback and he took a few steps away from her. "I'm s-sorry... I've had more years of practice..." He then smiled and hugged Emery, despite the fact that she was angry. "I'm sure you'll get it right before the exams. It's not that hard. I bet you're putting too much magic into it," he said.

Emery sighed and her anger dissipated. "I'll keep trying later," she said, pulling away and turning to Lillay. "So... Let's work on... Erm... Working together?" she asked, stumbling over her words because she wasn't sure how to word it.

"Yeah," Lillay said, grinning. She then removed his shorts, tossing them to the side. "So... If you use Jade Entanglement, I can avoid it if I attack from the air, right?" she asked.

Emery nodded, barely noticing as Adrian walked away and sat in the grass, taking Izzy in his arms, much to her displeasure. "Let's try this?" she asked.

Lillay nodded. With that, she leaped into the air and her stomach swelled as she belted, "Roar of the Ice Dragon!"

"Jade Entanglement!" Emery cried, slamming her palms to the ground. Roots shot from the ground and weaved their way forward while freezing wind and chunks of ice and snow showered down on the ground. As the roots weren't directly affected by the attack, they weren't damaged and they destroyed the ground a few feet in front of them.

"That worked," Lillay said, grinning. The more they trained together, the more she felt as though they were going to do fine in the exams. Heck, they didn't even know how much they would be fighting during the exams, so maybe all of the training wasn't completely needed. However, a part of her expected them to have to face off with the current S-class wizards in some way... Why else would they be gathered with her when she announced what was going on?

"Let's keep at this," Emery said. They hadn't trained much together and so they had to work on their synergy, too. "We should run and attack, and see how it works."

Lillay nodded and so together, they charged forward. Without telling Emery, she jumped into the air and shot out another icy roar, after calling out her usual phrase.

Emery stumbled and managed to roll out of the way just before she was hit by the attack. She pressed her hand to the ground and shot roots out of the ground at the same time.

The attack seemed to be successful again. However, Emery had barely managed to dodge her attack, so Lillay was noticing now that that was one area that they were going to have to focus on. Surely they could get to where they could predict each others' moves.

* * *

"What are you going to do if there aren't any rats for you to call upon in the location of the exams?" Eira asked Nezuko. They had found a place near the harbor that was abandoned and run-down to train. This was the best place for Nezuko to train because she could feel the rats all around, and more rats were good for her training.

"I can always call on the spirits of rats that have departed," Nezuko said. The spirits weren't good for doing damage, but they could eat away at magic and give them the upper hand. Beside, she had her Rat Take-Over, too.

"Would it not be better for you to train with the idea that you may not be able to use your rats in mind?" Eira asked.

"I dunno... It may be better," Nezuko responded. "I think I need to train in my Take-Over right now, anyway," she said.

"Okay... So are we going to fight each other today?" Eira asked.

"That works," Nezuko said. They didn't need to focus on synergy as much as some of the teams did. They just needed to get stronger and more confident in their abilities. With that, a dark golden magic circle appeared under her and she began to glow. "Take Over: Rat Spirit!" she called as the deep golden light engulfed her body. She began to slouch slightly, and when the light disappeared, she had changed. Her face was more pointed and her eyes had lost their pink color, only to become solid black and beady. She had large brown ears jutting out from her hair and a large pink tail trailing from her rear. Her boots had been removed and her hands and feet were pink in color, and distorted to have long, thin white claws and thick pads that would allow her to climb easier. Her teeth had changed into dagger-like fangs.

"Seraphic Summoning: Wings of an Angel!" Eira cried. She floated into the air and a blue light engulfed her, dissipating to reveal feathery, pure white angel wings. "Seraphic Summoning: Blade of the Heavens!" she called, reaching into a blue light to pull out a transparent blue sword with a white hilt and white inscriptions on it.

Nezuko smirked, a smirk that was deformed and kind of creepy due to her transformation. She jumped forward and slashed at Eira.

Eira flew back and lashed out with her blade, silent and graceful, almost the opposite of her partner.

Nezuko contorted, bending her spine in an odd way to dodge Eira'a blade. Her tail whipped up behind her and smacked Eira in the side, knocking her back.

Eira flapped her wings to prevent from falling to the ground and once she had recovered from Nezuko's attack, she went in for another attack, this time landing a hit and slashing the rat girl with her sword and sending her flying to the ground.

Nezuko used her tail to break her fall, bouncing on it and then landing on her two feet. She bounced back into the air and attempted to scratch at her friend again, only to be dodged and then kicked in the back. Her back bent in an odd way once more, and she twisted to grab Eira's leg and throw her from the sky, hitting her with her tail to send her crashing to the ground.

Eira recovered from the attack, but she let both of her summonings go. She was ready for a break, now. In all honesty, even though weeks had past, she was still hurt about feeling her brother around, but not being able to find him. She had found the mage that researched magic, but she had said that while the magic seemed familiar, she had no signs of it of in her database or magic samples, so she had gotten nowhere. As such, her emotions were taking a lot out of her.

"We done for the day?" Nezuko asked. She flashed golden and then returned to normal. It had been like this every time that they had trained. Eira was into it at first, but then something would seem to come over her and she'd stop wanting to train. They hadn't gotten a full day of training in yet, even though a week had passed since the announcement.

Eira nodded. "...Would you like to go eat or something?" she asked. She wondered if she was getting on Nezuko's nerves. She hadn't even told her friend about her problem because she just didn't feel like talking about it. She would prefer not to even think about it, but that seemed to be impossible.

Nezuko almost turned down her offer because she was getting irritated, but she bit her tongue when it came to her attitude because she knew that Eira had to be going through something pretty rough because of the way she was acting. Nezuko could even see a faint hint of sadness in her eyes sometimes, and it drove her insane because she wanted to be there for her, but she also didn't want to pry. Either way, she would go easy on her friend and swallow any negative comments. "That sounds good," she said, realizing that she hadn't responded yet. "You can pick where we go, though," she added with a smile.

Eira was glad that Nezuko wasn't the type to pry. It made her happy. She would tell her eventually, when she felt as if she could tell her without crying. Nezuko was a trusted friend, but the more she was around her, especially if Nezuko's cousin Gwen was around, the more she realized that Nezuko spoke her mind and what was on her mind could be quite harsh at times.

* * *

By Coyote's preference, Monk and Coyote had deemed the middle of one of the northern forests to be their training grounds. Coyote preferred to be near animals, which was more of something that he kept to himself, but one could easily assume as much because of his magic type. Since it was a long travel and would take away from their training time, they were camping out and only leaving the forest to stock up on more food.

Their training had mostly consisted of Monk meditating and Coyote practicing with calling on as many animal souls that he could at a time to help him. They had sparred a couple of times, and practiced being in sync, though it wasn't a problem, because even though they didn't get along, they had been working together for years so they knew each others' fighting styles.

They had both agreed that while each of them was stronger than the other, they made a good team because they were both close-combat fighters that fought by enhancing their abilities, and so it wouldn't be much of a problem to pound their enemies into the ground.

Monk had also been working on his blessings, which were a form of magic that he could use to enhance the abilities of his comrades. He wanted to try one thing specifically, so he stood. "Coyote, can we try an attack that would be awesome?" he asked.

"What is it?" Coyote asked. He had been lying in the grass, resting for that moment. He sat up and looked over to Monk. While they had argued some, they didn't argue as much when they weren't in a team because they knew that in the end, they had to get stronger so that they could do well in the S-class exams.

"I can bless you to make you stronger, and then you can use one of your little techniques to make you stronger," Monk explained, a smile on his face.

"What? Are you admitting that I'm stronger than you and just relying on me for this?" Coyote said, smirking. "Hell, maybe you are smart after all!"

"Hell no! I'm gonna be fighting, too, you bastard!" Monk snapped, and though it wasn't visible, he was glaring behind his sunglasses. "You just keep thinking that you're the stronger one and I'll show you who's the stronger one! I'm the hardest fist you'll ever meet the best damn mage that'll ever live!" Well, they argued quite a bit, but still not as much as when Fame and Azura were around.

While Monk was ranting, Coyote folded his arms across his chest and glared. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Save it for someone who cares, you ass," he groaned.

A vein swelled on Monk's head and he glared. "Go to hell!" he snapped. He then calmed down and sighed. "Right, right, training is a thing," he said. A part of him wondered how Fame and Nezuko were doing. He didn't know Gabe that well, so he wondered if Fame had someone to argue with, and he wondered if Nezuko even argued with her teammates.

Coyote glared at him for his words, but he didn't respond because he agreed that they needed to get back to training. "Animal Seith: Gorilla!" he called, some of the tattoos on his arm emitting light and one of the beads on his necklace glowing faintly. He could feel the power of the animal soul pulsing through him.

Monk clapped his hands together and brought his fingertips under his chin in a sort of praying manner. He uttered the phrase "Barah Rami," in a low voice and a ball of white light surrounded his hands. After a moment, the orb of light traveled to Coyote, and engulfed him.

Coyote was a bit suspicious of the light, but he didn't question it too far because he had just a bit of trust for his comrade. When the light engulfed him, he felt his muscles begin to pulse as even more strength flowed within him. His body absorbed the light and his hazel eyes were given a slightly lighter tint. "What kinda spell is this, Monk?" he asked. "Is it just gonna raise my strength?"

"It's a blessing, not a spell," Monk said. "And yes, you now have two strength enhancers. I think you should test them."

Coyote charged for Monk, his fist readied.

Monk hurriedly dodged. "Not me, you ass!" he snapped. "Do you want me to be crippled so that we can't train?" he shouted.

"Then what do I test it on?" Coyote growled, turning around to face his partner.

"The trees or something!" Monk retorted.

The trees were home to animals. He didn't like destroying trees. Of course, Coyote wasn't going to tell Monk this because it would give Monk something to tease him with, which was something that he didn't feel like hearing. His eyes fell to the ground. The ground could be home to animals, but he didn't see any burrows or holes near them, so maybe it would be the safest thing to attack, since Monk wasn't up for being attacked. So, he raised his fist and then slammed it into the ground below him. The ground shook, cracked and then shattered in places, chunks of earth and grass flying into the air around the mage. He began to fall into the crater that he had created and so he jumped into the air, flipping backwards and landing on his feet.

"That's so awesome!" Monk exclaimed, looking at the fairly large crater that Coyote's fist had created in the ground. That wasn't all they could do, either. He had more blessings that he could use on Coyote, and Coyote had more animal souls that he could call upon. He was already confident, but after seeing the boost that his blessings could give on top of Coyote's magic, he was so confident that they would be S-class.

Coyote smirked arrogantly. "Damn," he commented, staring into the crater. He didn't see any animals scurrying around and he didn't feel any souls floating, so he hopefully didn't hurt anything. His mind went back to training after that. He was pretty confident that they would be able to get to S-class. It would be a breeze for them to pass the exam.

"Hey, Coyote," Monk spoke as something crossed his mind. "Are we even sure that we're gonna be fighting in this exam?" he asked. He didn't recall Winter saying anything about fighting. She had had all of the active S-class mages with her and it seemed as though a lot of people had simply assumed that there would be battles involving the S-class mages. How did they know that that was going to be all of the exam? They were going to another location, and surely it wasn't just going to be for a battle with the S-class mages.

"Strength is one of the key aspects to being a mage, so why the hell would you think otherwise?' Coyote asked. He understood what Monk was getting at, though. They had only been training for battles, but there could be other trials in the end. "Maybe we should practice with speed some or something," he said. There could something to do with intelligence or something, but they had that... How would you even practice intelligence or strategy?

"How about we race or something then?" Monk asked, grinning.

"Fine," Coyote said, shrugging. It seemed like as good of an idea as any that he could think of to train in speed.

* * *

Fame and Gabe had also decided to go to a different town to train. They both had enough money to stay in an inn for at least a month, so it wasn't a trouble for them to say away. The reason they had decided to get away from the guild was due to distractions. Fame didn't want to run into his team and get distracted, and he felt as though Gabe would get distracted too often by Ikaros. Winter had stressed when everyone was leaving that she highly preferred for them not to train with the S-class mages, if possible.

Gabe had been fine for the first two weeks of training, but he was starting to become antsy. Unless she was hanging out with Kimi, there wasn't anyone to watch Ikaros and keep her from doing something reckless. He worried about her.

"Hey, man," Fame turned his music down and looked to Gabe, who was pacing back and forth in the inn room that they shared.

Gabe stopped pacing and looked to the lightning mage that was lying on the bed with his sleeping Exceed next to him. "Yeah?"

Fame sighed. "If you're really that freakin' antsy about being away from your girl, then we can go back for a bit. Taking a break from training for a day or two while we go back won't make us fail the exam, and you seem like you're going crazy or something," he said. He was pretty conceited about his strength. He didn't need to train that much. He was probably already pretty damn deserving of the title of an S-class mage, anyway. He flipped his hair out of his eyes and then sat up on the edge of his bed, expecting Gabe to say yes to his idea.

"Hmm... Maybe," Gabe said. He wasn't quite as confident as his partner. He hadn't worked with Fame since they were kids, as Fame had acknowledged, and they weren't going to be able to work as well together as some of the other pairings. Then again, he wasn't even sure that how well the other teams functioned together would even play a role in them becoming S-class wizards. He wanted to make sure that Ikaros was okay, but he didn't think it was a smart idea for them to stop training, either. "Let's just train today, and if I can't shake the feeling by the end of the day, we'll get on a train back to Nadeshiko," he said.

"Fine," Fame stood and picked up Nikko, letting him climb onto his shoulders and sit, and then putting his shoes on before following Gabe out of the room. The last two weeks hadn't been bad, necessarily. He and Gabe actually got along, to an extent. Gabe simply ignored Fame' arrogance, and Fame ignored when Gabe went on a tangent and started talking about Ikaros. They mostly talked about magic and missions, but it wasn't necessarily strained conversation. Besides that, they had one thing in common.

As they walked down the streets of the small town that they had decided to stay, a group of young females, probably in their early teens at the most started squealing like a bunch of excited piglets and ran over to them, their eyes sparkling, ignoring the groan that came from Gabe and the snort that came from Fame.

"Are you two from around here?" one of the females asked, stepping extremely close to the two guys. "I haven't seen you before, and I think we would remember faces like that!" When she stood on her tiptoes and tried to bring her face closer to Fame's, he stood up straight and put distance in between them, and his guild mark that was on his neck became visible. "You two are mages?"

Fame tossed his hair out of his face and even though he had the urge to simply turn his music up and ignore them since they were too young for him, he spoke. "Only the best in town that you'll never have," he purred.

Gabe chuckled at Fame's words, but frowned when they didn't seem to catch onto them and instead got closer to them, their hands all over their arms and chest. "Ehhhhh..." Gabe groaned, his eyes portraying that he was dead inside. It was bad enough when he was alone, but it was worse with Fame around, since there were two guys.

If the females were women instead of girls, Fame may have had some fun, but the thought of it made him feel like a pedophile. He inhaled lightly before coughing, "Metal Lightning," under his breath, zapping all of the girls. "Sorry, ladies, but we're really busy. Maybe some other time," he purred at the girls, who were now on the ground, stunned by his electricity. He flipped his hair out of his face and looked at Gabe through the corner of his eyes, to make sure that he was aware that it was time to keep walking.

"That was kinda mean," Gabe pointed out once they were out of earshot of the girls. "They were young."

"F-Fame isn't n-nice all-all the time," Nikko stammered nervously. He didn't speak much normally, but since he didn't know Gabe well, the little gray cat spoke even less.

"Fame is nice sometimes?" Gabe asked the Exceed.

"He-he sa-saved m-me," Nikko stammered, blushing and burying his face into Fame's hair.

"I don't have to be nice to a bunch of annoying girls," Fame said. "I don't see why you try to be."

"I don't," Gabe responded.

"Why the hell don't you just attack them, then? They're too shallow for hurting them to change their view on you," Fame said flatly.

"They were young, though," Gabe commented.

"So were we when we started doing missions... You were like eight or something, and people didn't have a problem attacking you when we ran into bandits or dark mages."

"Still..." Gabe didn't know how to argue against him and instead went silent until they got to the field where they had been training.

"Gabe," Fame started. "You copy magic, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," Gabe responded, looking at the older boy with questioning eyes.

"I've got an idea for something we can do in the exam if we have to fight," Fame said. He then began to spark. "Copy my magic and then hit me with it as hard as you can," he said.

Gabe's eyes squinted in confusion, but he didn't question it. A magic circle appeared under him and he copied Fame's Blue Lightning and then called out, "Indie Lighting!", sending a horizontal pulse of lightning at Fame, putting as much magic into the attack as he could.

Fame's body crackled and the screen on his Mp3 player lit up as it absorbed the electricity, the wire to his earbuds lighting up with sparks. Once the magic was absorbed, Fame's hair lifted and his eyes glowed. "See? This will help me some because my attacks will be super-charged," he said.

"That will be helpful," Gabe said, smiling. He planned to assess any enemies that they came across and hopefully, he would be able to copy a magic that they were weak against. "I think we have a pretty good chance of winning this," he commented honestly.

"Are you kidding? Of course we have a good chance of winning this," Fame said. He then backed up. "Don't you need to practice copying magic from your head or something like that?" he asked, remembering what Gabe had told him that he personally needed to practice the most. "We can spar. No S-class wizard will be much stronger than me in this form."

Gabe didn't really like Fame's arrogance, still, so he didn't respond to that. "Let's see..." he mumbled, thinking about a magic that he hadn't copied much. He fell into his thoughts until he decided that fire could be something that was helpful. So, he chose to copy Mistere's Wisp magic. As he focused, wisps danced around him and then shot towards Fame, who dodged, the lightning around him crackled. Gabe continued his attack, using a different fire. The smell of a bakery filled the air as he used Kimi's Candy Fire, though he didn't call out the name of the attack.

Fame dodged again and shot a bolt of lightning from his hand, which Gabe promptly dodged as well.

* * *

Kimi let out a sigh, chewing at her lip. For the first two and a half weeks, she and Jared had trained together and it had been fun. They met at one of the parks in Nadeshiko and then traveled to a clearing that was on the outskirts of town. He was a really strong mage, and even though Kimi hadn't been completely confident of herself at first, she had been confident in his abilities, and she wouldn't fail as long as he remained strong, too. They wouldn't fail the exam as long as they continued to train. However, he hadn't been showing up for the last few days. She was thinking about going to Winter and asking her, but most of the examinees hadn't been visiting the guild hall much since the exams had been announced, so she doubted that he would be there.

She waited until sunset of the fifth day in the world before unsummoning her Cosmic Magic staff and leaving the park. It was hurtful. Did he not want to work with her? Maybe he just deemed her too weak to work with and was just going to drop out of the exams since it was too late to get another partner. She didn't blame him. She wasn't nearly as strong as him. She let out a small hiccup and tried to fight the tears that swelled in her eyes. She didn't even want to move, so she fell to her knees and began to sob.

_ "Kimi! You know, crying only makes a doll-face like you look depressing,"_

Her sister's voice rang through her head and her mind began to spiral into a flashback.

_"I can't do it, Mellie-nee," a tiny, seven year old Kimi sniffled. "I can't make pretty magic like you and Mommy... I'm not good enough!" _

_ "Psh, whatever, Kimi," her thirteen year old sister Melissa responded. She then summoned a white staff with a pink jewel on top of it. "Take this... It'll help you with Cosmic Magic! With this, if you train hard enough, you'll be the best stage magician in the world!" _

_ "But... That's your favorite, Mellie-nee," Kimi sniffled, staring at the staff._

_ "And your my favorite person, Kimi!" her sister responded. "So, it's suited that my favorite item and my favorite person should be together, so take it!" _

_ Kimi grinned and took the staff. "Thank you! I'll cherish it! I'll become the best performer in the world!" _

Kimi swiped at her eyes and resummoned her staff. Her goal in life had changed, but she still needed to be the best. Her sister would be disappointed if she gave up just because her partner may have. She would try to her best to get strong, and if Jared didn't come back before the exams, she would try her best to talk Winter into letting her do the exams alone.

She climbed to her feet and twirled around, making a bunch of cutesy hearts and stars flash around her. She then smiled, her eyes returning to their normal, sparkly appearance. Melissa was right; sadness just didn't suit her!

* * *

Jared had been traveling for a few days, now. He had left at night, and thought it was best not to tell Kimi because she may want to go with him, and the training that he had to do was something that he had to do alone. The voices were beckoning to him and it was time for him to answer them. Maybe they would leave him alone if he did.

A part of him worried if Kimi would hate him for leaving her, but he would be sure to return before the exams so that they would be able to work together. He wondered if he would have to beg for forgiveness. He wondered if Kimi would realize that she was too good for him. While she wasn't a light mage or someone that had a form that embraced the light, she was pure and darkness wasn't present in her. She needed to become close to someone who was like her, not him. He would scare her away or hurt her one day; it was inevitable. He needed to make her understand that no matter what ideas she had in her head, they were not meant to be and that she needed to just stay away from him, but he couldn't do it. As much as he hated himself for it, he liked having her around.

Thinking about his situation, he let out a sigh. He wanted to remain calm and say that it would work itself out, but he didn't want to hurt anyone, so maybe he needed to take action. However, he had told her that he would work with her for the exams, and he wasn't going to go back on his word, so he would do that, but then after that, he would put distance between them, no matter how much emotional pain it caused him.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I liked writing it. :) The next chapter will have the four teams that didn't appear in this one, so it may be shorter, but then the chapter after that will bring in a new arc. C:

Sorry about this update being a little late. It may be that way for the next few days... I've got some stressful stuffs going on right now. Don't hate me. :(

**Review Responses**

Thank you all so much for the reviews. Love from me as always. :)

**La Maitresse' Dame** - I wanted to show all of the character's strength, and I thought this would be the best way to start it out. I want to give everyone plenty of time to think about the five mages that they want to be the main team in the GMGs. I may be able to show her secondary magic in this coming arc. Sorry that she hasn't appeared much. She's in the next chapter and I've already gotten her part completely written, and she's gonna be present a lot in the S-class exams, of course. There's no need to apologize about asking about your character. :)

**Junior the Otaku - **I'm glad you think I did a good job. I was worried if it was a bold move on my part. D: I'm happy that you're excited for the exams. I hope others are, too. Gabe and Fame were stuck together when I was planning. T_T And sorry about your internets. :( I understand if you can't review for a while. I hope you get it back soon. :)

**LilTimy - **Glad you're looking forward to it. I hope Gabe being paired with Fame is okay... It was the best suited, even though it's not that suited. :l

**shadowssj12 - **I'm glad you're happy. Sorry about not showing Yuki and Sara. T_T I try...

**LinkParkTheKillersFan - **I'm really happy that you're excited for the exams! And yes, relationships and strengths will be tested. :)

**starblack17 - **I'm glad you're okay with them being paired together! c: They were best suited for each other, I think.

**Rin Ice Miyako - **I'm happy that I did good with Ice!

**iheartfairytail21 - **I'm glad you're looking forward to it. Cantrelle will be cheering for everyone with Adrian and the Exceeds. :)


	15. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ Wooh! Last chapter of the second arc, if you count the introduction arc. :D Anyway, enjoy a few short training scenes and then anticipate the actual S-class exams, maybe?

* * *

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"Hey, hey, don't lose your patience with it! This is something that may take some time!" Kai said as he attempted to calm down an overly frustrated Marionette. They had been training for a little over a month, and they altered between training with speed, attacks and then their Unison Raid, which wasn't going as well as they had thought it would. They had picked a field that was close to Nadeshiko to train because Marionette didn't like the idea of just taking a trip with Kai, and Kai had let her choose where they trained. Apart from a couple of times of training before, the two light mages had never worked together, and as such making their magic combine wasn't easy. On top of that, Kai had attempted to get closer to Marionette and try to bring himself up to her standards, but the days that he attempted to had only led to Marionette leaving their training session early, losing her patience with him.

Marionette exhaled lightly, trying to calm herself down. She was a calm person by nature, but when her patience wore thin, she could become moody. Between working with Kai and trying to get the Unison Raid right, she was about to lose it and just give up. But, she was stronger than that, and in the end, she had determination to be an S-class wizard, so she would try her hardest. "I think I have enough magic left to try this again," she said, walking over to him.

"Me, too," he said. The sun was setting and it was almost time for them to call it a day on training, especially since they had been working on a Unison Raid all day, and as such, were running themselves into the ground. He approached her and once she extended her hand, he took it and laced their fingers together. The first couple of times they had practiced this, he had flirted with her about holding hands, but both times she had beat him to the ground, so he had stopped, at least for now.

With that, they exchanged glanced before closing their eyes and focusing. Their breathing became synchronized and with the silence of the area, they could hear each others' heartbeats and breathing. Their bodies began to glow as they expelled light magic and the magic coming from both of them began to mix, swirling into a radiant essence. The power from the magic made their hair and clothing move, Marionette's soft locks flowing in the air. Their eyes fluttered open and together, they yelled, "Unison Raid!"

The light that they emitted burst from them and the entire field was bathed in a bright white flare. The ground rumbled as if something big was about to happen, but suddenly, it stopped, and the glorious light faded.

Kai and Marionette were both on the ground, panting heavily. They had gotten it, if only for a short time. However, they had misjudged how much magic it was going to take and they had nearly overexerted themselves.

Marionette sat back on her knees, her eyes on the sky. She didn't think there was an inch of her body that didn't throb with pain, but she was happy. If only they had had more magic; she could only imagine what it would be like if they hadn't been training all day when they got it right. They still had nearly a month to continue to try it, too.

Kai sat back on his knees as well and let out a sigh, trying to control his breathing. The walk home was going to be excruciating and he had in mind just to declare that the ground would be his bed, but Marionette would probably make a comment on that, and it probably wouldn't be the nicest comment, either, so he didn't do it. He looked over at Marionette and grinned. "We're pretty damn awesome together, aren't we?" he asked, the tone of his voice pained but still cheerful.

Marionette looked over at him through the corner of her eyes and smiled pridefully. "I must agree with that," she said, the pride shining through in the tone of her voice, though her voice was shaky with pain as well.

"I think it's time to call it a day, princess," Kai said, though he didn't move. He didn't want to face the pain of getting up just yet. Besides, he was pretty sure that Marionette would hit him for calling her "princess".

"Don't call me that," she breathed out. She wanted to hit him, but it would be a weak slap at the most anyway, so what was the point? Shakily, she climbed to her feet, her head spinning as if to remind her that she was on the verge of passing out from lack of magic. She rubbed her temples in a failed attempt to get it to stop, but came to the conclusion that the only way she was going to feel any better was to go home and sleep. A lot.

Kai struggled to his feet, stumbled, and then turned to Marionette. "Want me to give you a piggyback ride?" he asked, grinning flirtatiously.

Marionette rolled her eyes and didn't even bother responding to him because she was positive that he already knew the answer to his question. "Are we going to train tomorrow?" she asked. She wondered if one night was even enough for them to recover their magic. She was up for training, if she could, though.

"We'll meet up tomorrow and see," Kai said, shrugging. They had begun to walk, though they were walking slowly. "I mean... Maybe we could just go on a da-"

"No. The answer is no before you even suggest it," Marionette said in a cold tone. She still didn't feel as though he impressed her at all. They hadn't known each other long, either, so she wasn't just going to start dating someone like that. She was starting to wonder if he was dense, or if he just didn't want to give up. Either way, he was annoying. But... She had to admit that with him, she felt as if she had a good chance of becoming an S-class mage and it made her happy.

Kai laughed at her words. He had expected them, but he was confident that if he kept trying, he would eventually hear a positive answer from her. She was a woman with high standards for men, and he liked that about her. It would make him feel awesome when he finally managed to get her. "'Fine... Fine... I'll keep on tryin'. You can always give me pointers, y'know?"

Marionette shot him a condescending glare and then stuck her nose up to him. She did not think it would be right for her to list her standards for a guy. That was part of his role to find out, if he really had interest in her and wasn't just player.

* * *

Hikari and Mistere made a vacation out of finding their spot to train, as they traveled into the mountains and found an inn to stay at. The first six days after the announcement had been spent traveling for them, but over a month later, they were in full swing training. There wasn't really a terrain that helped Mistere's magic, as long as they weren't training in water, but for Hikari, the mountains were one of the best places to train, as long as there wasn't too much snow around. The place that they had picked to train was a small, flat clearing that was at the base of a mountain path, surrounded by boulders.

Both of the girls had been focusing highly on making their magic stronger. Mistere had been practicing with the number of wisps that she sent out at a given time, as well as the power and intensity of the wisps, and Hikari had been devouring the boulders that were around them and working on making the most powerful attacks that she could. She was also working on some secret art techniques that would help to make her stronger, too.

"Hey, Mistere," Hikari called. It was midday and they had been training for a while, neither of the girls paying much mind to the other, but Hikari was getting bored with her training and wanting to spice things up a bit. When the blunette looked over at her, she grinned, her eyes sparkling. "Wanna spar for a bit?" she asked, the sparkles in her eyes dancing playfully.

Mistere turned to her. "Sounds like a plan," she said, smiling. With that, her hands lifted and blue wisps began to dance around her before flying towards Hikari and circling her.

Hikari attempted to jump into the air, as she was pretty sure she knew what her partner was doing, but it didn't help. The wisps flew into her and took control of her, slinging her into a nearby rock. She let out a small gasp of pain, but pulled herself to her feet. Earth began to swirl around her fist and she charged forward, calling out, "Earth Dragon's Rugged Fist!"

Mistere jumped out of the way and landed behind Hikari, twisting around and raising her hands to send out more blue wisps that swirled around Hikari's legs and caused her to trip, falling to the ground with a loud thud.

Hikari pressed her hands to the ground, not even bothering to get up as she made the ground shake and contort. Soon, a geyser of mud and dirt shot from under Mistere, causing the wisp mage to shoot into the air with a loud scream.

Mistere hadn't expected the attack from below, and so she didn't have time to ready herself or dodge. She covered her mouth when she realized that she had let out such a loud scream, a faint blush tinting her face. The geyser was highly pressurized and it was painful. She grimaced at the pain that she felt in her back. She tried to gain her footing, just enough to get out of the geyser, but realized that it was going to be impossible after a few tries. So, she held her hands forward and made her wisps grab her and pull her from the geyser. She let go of her magic and fell to the ground.

"Hah! You're covered in mud and stuff!" Hikari said, giggling at Mistere.

Mistere looked down at her outfit, which was now mostly brown and blue instead of white and blue like it had been. Her eye twitched and she glared. "Thanks for that," she mumbled under her breath. She had brought some changes of clothes, she doubted that she would be able to get the stains out of her current outfit.

Hikari made the geyser go away and then charged. "Earth Dragon's Claw!" she called out, attempting to kick Mistere with an earth coated leg.

Mistere rolled out of the way and brought her hands forward to send the wisps flying toward Hikari, grabbing her and causing her to fall again. The wisps then lifted the earth dragon slayer and slammed her into the ground, causing her to let out another painful gasp.

Hikari sat up, not even bothering to get up to her feet at that moment. She coughed and a bit of blood trickled down the corner of her mouth. "I think we got a good chance of winning this!" she said, wiping the blood away.

Mistere smiled brightly. "I think I agree with you," she said. She then walked over to her friend and extended a muddy hand down to her. "I really didn't mean to throw you to the ground so hard," she said in an apologetic tone. She had instantly felt bad and realized that she had been too rough when she saw the blood in the corner of Hikari's mouth.

Hikari laughed, taking her friend's hand. "No, it's not a problem at all," she spoke in a kind voice, tucking a cluster of dark pink locks behind her ear and smiling brightly. "I'll recover in no time, and it was nice to see how strong you are... Let's just hope that you can do something like that in the exams, if the need comes."

"I'll try my best," Mistere responded sincerely. They began walking towards the inn, which was up the mountain path a ways. The sun was still fairly high in the sky, but they didn't need to train enough to aggravate their injuries, because they needed to be in perfect health for the exams. So, on the days when one-or both- of them got injured, they would usually call it an early day.

"So... If we have to face the S-classy people, who are you worried about facing?" Hikari asked as they traveled.

Mistere looked at her and then began to think for a moment. "Erm... I don't know... All of them, really. They are S-class, after all, and Winter wouldn't just name someone S-class for no reason."

"I wish I would have gotten the opportunity to see some of them fight more, to be honest," Hikari said. "I know at least one of them is a dragon slayer, and to be honest, when they're in a group, the smell of the magic is so strong, that I wouldn't doubt more of them being dragon slayers."

"You're a dragon slayer, too, though, so should you really be worried about something like that?" Mistere asked. She was worried about the overall strength of the S-class wizards, not the type of magic that they used.

"I dunno. I know how awesome dragon slayers can be," she responded, shrugging.

* * *

"Saarraaa..." Yuki whined, his ears folding behind his head as he tried to wake Sara up. The exams were only about two weeks away, and they had trained really hard the day before. Yuki had gotten worked up in his own training, and he had stopped paying attention to what Sara was doing. He didn't notice her until she was on the ground, panting, and he ended up carrying her back to the inn that they were staying at.

They were staying in the same mountain inn as two of their guildmates, though they barely interacted with them as each of the two teams had their own training spots and their own training to do. Their training had been focusing on getting stronger all around. Yuki was working on new techniques, and Sara had been working on getting better with Sky God Slayer magic.

Today, they were in the room that they shared, and even though the sun was starting to set, Sara hadn't woken up. Yuki figured that she was going to sleep for a while, but he didn't expect her to sleep the entire day away. He hadn't left the room the entire day, but now, he was getting really worried about his partner.

His face lit up and he grinned when Sara opened her eyes after he shook her gently. "You're okay!"

Sara let out a small groan and rubbed her eyes gently. Her body didn't hurt, but it was stiff. She rolled over and looked past Yuki to the window, noticing the orange and purple light the bathed the sky. "What... What time is it, Yuki-kun?" she asked, sitting up.

"Oh, I don't know the time, but the sun's almost gone," Yuki said. "How do you feel?" he asked, sitting on his knees and leaning on the bed.

Sara blushed at how close he was to her and she smiled about the fact that he seemed to be worried about her. "I'm... I'm fine," she said. She felt a lot better, even though a lot of the day before was blurry. She remembered training, but she remembered that her head had felt fuzzy, but she kept on training because Yuki was training.

"I can go get you something," Yuki offered, his tail wagging happily. He was smiling brightly at her. "If you need anything," he added.

Sara shook her head. "I'm okay... I think I'm gonna go to the springs," she said, standing. Her body was so stiff, and she knew that there were gender-segregated hot springs behind the inn, that were free to those who were staying at the inn. She then paused and blushed, her eyes falling to the ground. "Are you okay if we take a day break from training?" she asked sheepishly. It was so close to the exams, and she didn't want to hurt Yuki's feelings, but she didn't feel up to training.

"It's fine!" Yuki said, a grin that made Sara's heart skip a beat spreading across his face. "I'll go to the springs, too, and we can train extra-hard tomorrow," he said, following her out of the room after grabbing a towel for himself.

* * *

Sara was the only one in the springs at first, but after her eyes had drifted closed, she heard two female stalking and she opened them again.

She saw the two females that were from Silver Griffin sinking into the water, chatting about the exams that were coming up. When they noticed that she was in the springs as well, they smiled at her.

"Are you looking forward to the exams, Sara?" Hikari asked. She hadn't known the mage too well before meeting at the inn, but she had made sure to remember her name.

Sara blushed in response to the question and sunk into the water just a bit more. "Umm... I'm not sure... It'll be a good bit of training for Yuki and me, but I don't know that we're strong enough to be in the exams..."

"What type of magic do you two use?" Mistere asked. She wasn't too familiar with Sara or her partner, so she wanted to know.

"I use Sky God Slayer and Yuki uses Fire Kitsune Slayer," Sara responded. "Erm.. Yuki is pretty good at his magic, but I'm not really that good at my magic... I wanted to go train with Chelia-san of Lamia Scale, but I never got around to it, and so I'm worried that I will let Yuki down in all of this..."

Hikari smiled brightly. "I'm sure you'll be fine," she said. "...And even if one of you do fail, it won't hinder your friendship if you are really close," she added. She knew that she wouldn't be mad with Mistere if she messed up. There would always be more chances to become S-class.

Sara nodded, but she still looked kind of sad. "I really don't want to let him down, though," she said. She felt as if she was already letting him down, though she didn't want to explain the fact that she had passed out during training the day before and couldn't train today, which caused Yuki not to train, either.

"He won't be let down. I think all of us understand that there are more chances to become S-class mages," Hikari said. "You shouldn't worry so much about it and just focus on training when you can!"

"I agree," Mistere said, smiling at the other girl as well.

Sara felt a bit better with the girl's words and she returned their cheery smiles.

* * *

"Okay! Let's do this!" Yuki cheered the next day, once they had arrived at their training grounds. He was ready to train and today, they finally decided to spar for a change.

"Yeah," Sara's voice held a tinge of fear, but her eyes were narrowed in confidence. She was standing a few feet away from Yuki and her heart was pounding.

"You go first, Sara!" Yuki called, a grin on his face again.

Sara nodded and focused on her magic. "Sky God's Vortex!" she called, throwing one arm up towards the sky. Wind gathered around her arm, spiraling around it, her magic coloring it black. She brought her arm down and in front of her and shot the vortex at Yuki.

Instead of dodging, Yuki coated his fist with fire and threw it into the vortex, his magic burning through her magic and causing the vortex to turn into a spinning wheel of flames. He smirked as he shot the vortex back at her.

Sara darted to the side and dodged with relative ease. Her speed was one thing that she had, even if she wasn't that good at her magic.

Yuki dashed forward, "Fire Kitsune's Flaring Fists!" he called as his fists burst into flames. "Fire Kitsune's Raging Flame Buster!" he called just as he was close to Sara. With that, he shot an intense burst of fire from each hand.

Sara jumped into the air and her stomach and cheeks swelled at she belted "Sky God's Bellow!" Her bellow wasn't as strong as Chelia's and only generated a small cyclone of black wind that was aimed towards Yuki.

Yuki didn't have time to dodge the attack and was scooped up by the cyclone and was spun around before being thrown to the ground.

Sara landed on the ground, but before she had time to catch her breath, Yuki was up and charging at her with fiery fists. She closed her eyes let out a small whimper, only to be surprised when Yuki didn't hit her. She opened her eyes to see the fox boy grinning at her.

"I'm not going to directly hit you," he said. "I don't see the point in injuring you when we're just training, and my fists can really hurt!"

Sara smiled sheepishly at him. "Erm... Thanks..." she said in a small voice. Even if she didn't fully express it, she was glad that he didn't hurt her.

* * *

"Technician's Cannon!" Gwen cried out. Her body was coated in electric blue digital letters as she summoned her cannon. She and Leo had been training for nearly two months and the exams were about a week away. Their training grounds was a place close to Nadeshiko as well since Gwen had refused to go on a trip alone with Leo for two months. She fired the cannon into the air and it released a bunch of small mines that landed on the ground. It was a new technique that she had managed to master. She loved training with Leo. Her magic didn't demand a lot from his magic, so there hadn't been a day where either of them had run noticeably low on magic. The only thing that ever slowed their training were the days where Gwen didn't feel well. She had been trying to be strong for him and Nezuko, since she didn't want to take Nezuko's mind away from her own training.

"Awesome!" Leo applauded her, watching as she manually activated all of the mines with he Technician's screen. He had been enjoying his time for the last two months as well. He had gotten to spend a lot of time with Gwen and even eat out with her a few times, even though she tried nervously to make it clear that it wasn't a date. He had been practicing as well, and so he took out his black book that had "HISTORY" printed on the front and summoned his broadsword. "Let's see if I can do this," he mumbled to himself. "Sword Art: Twin Long Blades!" he said as the broadsword began to glow. Soon, the hilt split in two and out of the light, Leo pulled out twin blades.

"That's so neat!" Gwen commented. Her hand glowed with a digital ball as she scanned the magic and stored it in her database. She really admired Leo's strength. She had seen him practicing a lot of his sword techniques, as well as his Storm Wolf techniques, and they were all amazing. Sometimes, she doubted herself and wondered just how much she was going to bring him down, but he always caught her worrying and reassured her with a confident grin.

"Have I impressed you enough to win a date, my adorable damsel?" he asked, holding both swords over his shoulder and walking over to her.

She blushed and shook her head. "...N-not n-now..." she stammered out, the blush on her face darkening. She had told herself that she was going to stop listening to Emery and Nezuko when it came to her love life, since they didn't seem to be in much of a better situation than her, but now, her problem was her lack of courage. She found it hard to just say yes to him when he asked.

"Not now?" Leo grinned at her words. He would have thrown an arm over her shoulders, but he still had his swords, so he couldn't. "Are you not saying no for once?"

Gwen let her hair shade her eyes. "I... D-don't know," she stammered out. "We should... Um... Be training..."

"Right, right," Leo said in a disappointed tone, though his face portrayed hat he was actually quite happy. She hadn't flat out denied him at first, and it took her a while to decide to change the subject.

"Do...Do you think we should spar?" Gwen asked, glad that he had dropped the subject. She felt that he would have to be dense to not tell that she cared deeply for him.

"You really up for that?" Leo asked.

Gwen nodded. "Erm... You go first..." she said, smiling at him.

Leo nodded and sped towards her, his blades readied. She could absorb electricity, and if it was too much, it would overcharge her, so he decided to fight with his blades and test her in close combat.

Gwen let out a light gasp, but jumped back. She wasn't good with close combat. Maybe Leo could tell that? She stepped backwards quickly, just managing to dodge his strike.

Leo continued to approach her and swing his blade, surprised when she dodged, even if she didn't dodge by much. He wasn't moving as fast as he could, but showing that she was able to dodge at the speed that he was moving wasn't bad. Then again, who knew how fast some of the S-class wizards would be able to move, so maybe he should test her at full speed.

Gwen continued to dodge his attacks for a few minutes before deciding that it was time to try to land an attack of her own. She ducked and then attempted to swipe his legs out from under him.

Leo had been stepping and leaning forward at the same time that she tried to sweep his legs out from under him, and he was taken by surprise. He let out a small yelp when he fell forward, unsummoning his blades as to not accidentally stab her on his way down.

Gwen hadn't thought her attack through very well and she let out a small squeak of surprise as Leo fell over her and she fell back, ending up under him. When she opened her eyes, which had been tightly shut, to see the kind of position that they were in, her face turned a dark shade of red and she let out a nervous hum.

Leo couldn't help himself from grinning down at her. "You know... You're trapped," he teased. He held himself over her with both of his palms planted on the ground, but it would be easy to grab her if she tried to get away. Not that he would; he could just tell that her mind was racing too fast to be able to think of a way to get away from him, so he took advantage of that.

Gwen let out another nervous hum. Too close... Too close... She could feel her heartbeat throbbing in her temples.

Leo knew that he could have probably stolen an actual kiss at that point, but Gwen looked like she was panicking, so he settled on kissing her on the cheek and then hopping up. The grin never leaving his face, he extended a hand down to her.

Gwen stared, a bit surprised by the kiss until she saw his hand. She took it, her own hand shaking a bit, and climbed to her feet. "Sh-should we continue to train?" she asked, not even wanting to give him the time to attempt to flirt with her at that moment.

"Sure," Leo said, laughing lightly under his breath. He was fully aware that she was trying to avoid the subject of them being a couple, even though she hadn't gotten upset or angry at what he did. So, he jumped back to put distance in between them and resummoned his broadsword, ready to spar some more.

* * *

The S-class mages had brought it upon themselves to train in some way as well. Stark and Danny trained together sometimes, Sharon had brought it upon herself to make Adrian train with her when he wasn't helping Emery, Ikaros attempted to train some-even though she would have preferred to have Gabe to help her, Azura altered between training with Danny and Stark despite the fact that she didn't know them that well, and Ice trained alone, away from everyone else.

"So, what are you gonna do when you have two different magics that you're facing?" Stark asked Danny one day when the two boys, along with Azura were all out for the day, but done with their training. The S-class exams were about four days away so they didn't train so hard that they wouldn't recover fast.

"I dunno. I should be fine, to be honest," Danny admitted. One of his main strengths was in the fact that he could absorb the magic of his opponent with his needle lances and make clothes that would be resistant to the magic. He could make dual-resistance clothing, but it wasn't something that he had practiced a lot. He could also fight with needles in general, so it wasn't like it was going to be problem for him, even if he couldn't make dual-resistance clothing.

"Are you gonna forfeit your title if you have to face your girl?" Azura asked. She only really knew about Lillay and Danny because he had an annoying habit of talking about her.

"No," Danny responded. "I'm just gonna hope that luck is on my side. To be honest, it would suit me the best if I got a team of guys... I don't want to have to fight a girl, especially one that seems weaker," he said. "Well, not that Lillay is weak, but some girls in the guild seem a bit nervous about this exam, and I don't want to face any of them..."

"I don't care who I face," Azura said, placing her hands on her hips. "I'm gonna destroy them, if they can't stand up to me." She had no intentions of permanently damaging anyone, apart from maybe a couple of scars, but she didn't care if her friends were participating in the exams; she was strong and looking forward to a fight where everyone had to go all out.

"I don't care, either," Stark said. "Even if we're not that known, Silver Griffin is the strongest guild in the country, if not the world, and as such, I don't think I'm gonna go easy on whoever I get."

"Winter wouldn't select people who aren't strong," Terra threw in, folding her arms over her chest. I don't think that there is much of a reason to go easy on anyone."

"I agree," Artemis said. One thing that she did like about Azura hanging out with Stark and Danny was the fact that she got along well with Terra, apart from the fact that her getting loud irritated Terra. She got along with Nikko as well, but Nikko was too shy to make conversation with.

"We'll just have to see in the exams, won't we?" Danny said, sighing lightly under his breath.

* * *

"So... Are you gonna go all out, Sharon-chan?" Adrian asked. They were at a small cafe, eating lunch, three days before the exams. Sharon and Adrian had been training all morning before deciding to eat. After seeing Ikaros all alone, they had invited her, and Cantrelle had ended up tagging along as well, so they were at a booth for four.

Sharon sighed. "Yeah, I may be a bit lazy, but I did work for my title, and as such, I'm not going to give it up that easily," she said.

"Do you guys lose your title if you lose at all?" Cantrelle asked.

"Nope. Just if Winter or Crystal feels that we didn't go all out," Sharon explained.

"I don't think that they expect us to be unbeatable," Ikaros threw in. She wasn't exactly as bubbly as she was when she was with Gabe. He and Fame had came back into town once, but still, she couldn't pretend like she didn't miss him. She also didn't know any of the people that she was with very well, which made her become a bit quieter.

"I'll be cheering everyone on!" Cantrelle said, grinning brightly.

"Me, too!" Adrian said, smiling happily. "I'll be helping with cooking, too, so I'll make sure to make the best of the best foods for you guys!"

"You can cook?" Ikaros asked. She liked people who could cook because she liked food and cooking.

"I can," Adrian said, nodding. "I've been spending my free time for the past two weeks traveling around and finding the best plants for magic replenishing and healing, so that I can make dishes that will help everyone to heal faster, because there may be some pretty ugly injuries."

"So that's where you've been some days," Sharon said, pursing her lips. Adrian had shown her his apartment once he got settled, and she had stopped by on a few days to find that he wasn't there. He had figured that he had just been training his cousin a lot. "How did training your cousin go?"

Adrian's face dropped and he sighed. "Emery-chan is bad... She's not good at my spells, and she's got a lot of scars on her arms and legs because of it... She has it, sort of... But I really hope that she doesn't try it during the exams because it could end badly for her and Lillay."

"Not good, huh?" Sharon gave him a sympathetic smile. She had trained with him and tried to get him to go all out, but he had not. She wondered what kind of power he had behind his magic.

"Emery-chan is young, and she doesn't understand everything about magic, but she gets upset when I tell her mean things like," Adrian said.

"I don't see why someone would get mad at that," Ikaros said. "We all have things to learn about magic, right?"

"Yeah, and Emery isn't nearly as old as you, right?" Cantrelle asked.

"Nope... Some people don't like criticism," Adrian said. He then turned to Ikaros. "Are you gonna go all out? You're so tiny and cute, but I bet you're really strong!"

Ikaros blinked. "I don't know," she answered. She didn't really care much about being S-class and she didn't care about losing her title.

* * *

The last couple of days for Ice had been spent meditating. She was going to need to be as calm as possible for the exam because she was going to have to spend a lot of time around her guild members after her part in the exam was over. She didn't like the thought, but Winter had already pulled her aside and told her that she was going to spend some time at the camp, even if Winter had to freeze her in lacrima that she couldn't absorb. Winter wanted her to at least let the guild know that she was part of the guild, because apparently having the guild mark was no longer enough.

"Are you going to be okay?" Cross asked, staring at her friend, who's eyes were closed and her brow was furrowed tightly. "Are you gonna remove any of the seals for the exam?" she asked, speaking about the seals that covered her body, sealing in some of her magic potential.

"Winter doesn't know about the seals, and so if I go all out without removing them, Winter will see that as going all out," Ice responded. She didn't bother to communicate telepathically, as she and Cross were in the small home that they shared, and there was no reason to hide their words at that moment.

"Are you going to go lightly at all?" Cross asked. Even without the removal of the seals, she knew that the girl was really strong.

"I will not kill or permanently injure, but I will not be showing sympathy just because they are my guild mates," she said. A part of her was hoping that she would get a team that was really strong. She knew that the few non S-class members who really knew about her and had seen her fight would probably consider backing down when they found out that they would have to fight her, and she didn't want to end up with someone like that. She wanted someone who wasn't afraid, just so that she would get some fun from the battle.

"I look forward to seeing the battle, and I hope that you will be okay without me," Cross said.

"I will be fine," Ice responded.

* * *

**Author's Note: **So... Hope you enjoyed the chapter! That's the end of the arc! The next chapter may not be able up until Monday because I'm not gonna have much time to write it today, and it may take more than one day for me to write it. Leave a review if you want!

**Review Responces**

**La Maitresse' Dame - **He can be mature. It depends on who he's around or how he feels. C: I'm really glad that you like Coyote and Monk. It's always fun to write characters bickering. :D He's not really that social, apart from people that he deems as sorta friends. He'll have to interact some, though, at the camp in the exams. With the hair flipping, I love for my characters to have little quirks or habits; Kimi twirls and Fame flips his hair. The others that are my OCs don't have habits like that because they're not quite as well developed. :)

**LilTimy - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter and I'm happy that you're okay with Fame and Gabe being together. :) I hope you enjoy their part in the S-class exams.

**shadowssj12 - **Thank you! I will hopefully have fun. And Fame is not nice. He doesn't claim to be, his Exceed claims for him to be nice. XD

**LinkinParkTheKillersFan - **I try with suspense. I try. T_T At least it worked a little, I think? And Kimi will not give up, but that's not saying that she can't throw a fit.

**FairyTailWolf6 - **Hm... That's actually a good idea. It would leave for a more open vote, as well. I can call for everyone to vote for 7 characters, and then I'll put my vote in, and the ones with the highest will be the main five, and the two-three runners up will be reserve. I was just going to not cast my vote and choose the reserve members, but if we do this, I'll just count my vote if it's needed. c: I'm happy that you liked the chapter. C:


	16. Chapter 15 xS-Class Exams Arc

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ I'm writing this when I haven't even finished chapter fourteen. Why, because I'm at a different house and don't have my computer... :( So... I can't finish chapter fourteen yet. You guys probably won't even know that, though, because I'll be uploading chapter fourteen first. :)

Hope you enjoy the chapter.

*****PLEASE READ*****

**I've said this before but I will putting it in the first few chapters regarding the S-class exams... I have used a random number generator to determine how each team progresses in the exams. If they got an even number in the generator, they did good, and if not, they did bad. So... Yeah. I'm not simply choosing who wins by personal favor. :) Don't hate me if your character does poorly.**

* * *

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Two months after the announcement, all of the teams who had been selected for the S-class exam were gathered outside in the garden, all standing behind Winter, Crystal, Cantrelle, Adrian and the Exceeds. Winter had announced a few days earlier that they would be gathering in the garden with their bags packed on the first day of the exams

"So, what are we doing in the garden?" Stark asked, folding his arms over his chest. Winter had given them a minute to talk, greet each other, and wish each other good luck in the exams, but some of the wizards were starting to lose their patience with just standing around.

"Is the Griffin's Cavern below the garden?" Emery asked. She figured if it was, that she or Adrian would have noticed it when using their magic on the garden. Certainly the roots of some of the plants would have extended down into the caverns. She was now dressed in a black tanktop and silver shorts under a dark green pea coat that covered most of her outfit, and simplistic black boots that slipped on. Her hair was still in a braid with flowers decorating it.

"No," Winter answered Emery's question. "We are griffins. We fly, and as such, our home is in the sky," she explained.

All eyes were on the sky, but there was nothing more than clouds, so after a moment, the eyes of the mages went back to their guild master and Winter laughed.

"Are we supposed to get our Exceeds to fly us there?" Lillay asked. That would be multiple, difficult trips for the Exceeds, and she wondered if they would even be able to make it.

"Some of us don't have Exceeds, and some of us can't fly, either," Nezuko said. She knew that someone like Eira would be able to summon wings and fly. However, someone like her wouldn't be able to do anything to get high into the sky. She had changed clothing, though her new outfit was exactly the same apart from the fact that it was black instead of light brown.

"Patience..." Winter cooed to the mages who were starting to exchange worried and confused glances and stir around nervously. "Stand back and you will see..."

Everyone apart from Crystal stepped back, and the two sisters stepped forward, holding hands. They began to glow and the ground around them began to freeze as their magic coursed through the air. "Unison Raid!" the two elderly women cried together. The air around them began to freeze and the outline of a huge spiral staircase began to appear, sparkling with ice. Magic shot out from the two women and the outline began to freeze over to mage a massive, glistening staircase of ice that led into the sky. Their arms dropped and they smiled at their creation.

"That's... That's amazing..." Gwen breathed, her huge eyes on the sky. She was dressed differently, too. Her long lavender and plum locks were pulled into a high ponytail that was held up by a glittery silver ribbon. Her bangs were tied back with a glittery black ribbon that had a blue and silver butterfly charm on it. She wore a black, long sleeved sweater that hung from her shoulders with a blue tank top under it and a silver ribbon that wrapped around her waist, along with a blue skirt with silver trimming, and simple black boots that slipped on and had no laces, matching Emery's shoes, once again. She also had on silver stockings that glittered and covered up her thighs and knees which were exposed. She looked mature as the clothing fit her curves well and wasn't quite as cutesy as some of her other outfits.

"Now... Crystal will lead the S-Class wizards and those that will be sharing the camp with us... The examinees will follow me once the others have made it into the clouds," Winter explained.

"Do we have the option to fly?" Lillay asked. She felt as if it would be faster and require a lot less energy if she could just get Izzy to fly her to the top of the stairs.

Winter shook her head. "Surely, everyone here can climb a few stairs," she said, smiling warmly at the mages.

"Aren't they going to be slippery?" Gwen asked. They were made out of ice, weren't they? And she really couldn't walk on ice very well, if at all.

"No... They are not," Winter said. "They were made with ice, but are coated with clear lacrima so that mages who can't walk on ice will be able to climb them with ease," she explained.

"Come on, all of you," Crystal called, staring at the S-class mages, Adrian, Cantrelle and the Exceeds.

"I'll carry you if you get tired, Cantrelle-chan," Adrian said, smiling down at the child who he had become quite fond of since they had trained together. He was dressed less casually than his normal outfit. He now wore a simple green t-shirt with a dark green rose printed on the right side of it, black jeans, and the same shoes. He still had his scarf and bracelet on.

"Okay," Cantrelle nodded. She wanted to be strong, though and she wanted to try to make it up all of the stairs herself.

"This is a hassle," Sharon said, glaring at the staircase. "We're S-class, shouldn't we be given, like some kind of privileges or something?" she asked, placing a hand on her hip. She had changed clothing for the event, like many of the mages. She was now dressed in a green v-neck sweater with a short skirt, tights and combat boots, along with the necklace that was given to her from her childhood friend.

"Sharon-chan, I can carry you too, if you'd like," Adrian said, smiling brightly over his shoulder. He had already climbed up a few of the stairs, Cantrelle by his side.

She blushed and shook her head. "I'm fine, and you're too cheery about this," she said, though she sprinted to catch up with him. They had started becoming closer as well, and she didn't want to be outdone by a newbie, even if it was just in climbing stairs.

Azura sighed, but walked forward. "Good luck on the exams, you guys!" she called over her shoulder as she sped up to keep up with the group that she was with.

Ikaros was cheerful as she skipped up the steps. Winter had made her a special promise regarding the exams, and she couldn't wait for the guild master to follow through with the promise. She was also happy to get to see the island that was apparently the guild's home. Thanks to the suggestions of Kimi, she had changed her outfit as well. She wore an over-sized white hoodie that practically swallowed her, along with a short blue skirt with lots of ruffles, a white garter and white ruffly stockings, along with light blue combat boots that matched her skirt and had black laces. The hoodie had tiny angel wings on the back, and was worn over a blue tank top. She wore her hair in two pigtails, and she had a headband with a halo on the top of it.

Stark and Danny were behind Ikaros and to make the climb better, they decided to chat, talking about which guild members they thought showed the most promise in becoming an S-class. Neither of the boys had changed, but Danny didn't wear his robe, so the mages that were behind him could see his two large, sewing-needle like lances.

Ice followed behind everyone, keeping her distance from the rest of the mages, not saying a word. She hadn't opted to change her outfit, either.

Winter turned to the mages that were left and raised one hand. A magic circle appeared on the dominant wrist of each mage, causing them to raise their wrists.

"What's going on?" Kimi asked. She had changed into a long-sleeved v-neck shirt that was hot pink with little cupcakes and hearts printed all over it, along with a black and pink pinstriped shorts that were just a bit short, black knee-high boots that had hot pink laces and white sweets printed all over them, and black gloves with pink lace on them. She also wore a black choker necklace with a large pink jewel in the middle and many smaller pink jewels hanging from it. She had been quiet for most of the day. Jared had returned and apologized, but she had no intentions of forgiving him easily, since he hadn't even bothered to tell her that he was leaving. They would work together, and give it their all, but that didn't mean that he was deserving of her cheeriness, at least for the day.

Jared was normally quiet, but now his expression displayed just a bit of worry, his brows furrowed slightly. He had expected her to be upset, but he would rather be yelled at then to get the silent treatment, as silence didn't suit her. He had apologized, but it had been a quick, "I'm sorry," and when he figured out how to, he would apologize more deeply. Now though, he looked down at his wrist, where a lacrima bracelet had formed. It had "Kimi" etched into it.

"These are bracelets that you will be able to use to communicate telepathically with your partner, and your partner only," Winter explained. "They have more use, but they will be explained, later. For right now, it serves as a bond between you and your partner." She then turned towards the staircase. "You all must walk in front of me, as I will be destroying the staircase as I go."

Monk approached Nezuko, Fame and their partners before they started walking. He had changed into something more casual and he looked a great deal different. His sunglasses were removed, though he had in contact lenses that made his eyes appear to be normal and brown in color. He also wore a white t-shirt, shorts, and sneakers. His hair was a bit messier than usual. He tapped the two who he was familiar with, and when they turned to him, he placed a hand on each of their shoulders and bowed his head, saying a short prayer for their safety in the exam.

Fame arched a brow. "The hell are you doing?" he asked, flipping his hair. He was dressed differently, too. He didn't want his hoodie to get damaged, so he had switched to wearing a black t-shirt with a neon blue smiley face with X's for eyes over a white and neon blue striped long-sleeved shirt, black cargo pants with neon blue stripes down the side, and his same shoes. He still had his Mp3 player and earbuds.

"I'm praying for the safety of the ones I care deeply for," Monk responded, smiling kindly. He had already done this for Coyote, who had had nearly the same reaction as Fame.

"Erm, thanks," Nezuko said in a soft tone. She wasn't necessarily used to seeing the softer side of Monk, but he was a monk once, so shouldn't she expect things like this? "I wish you the best of luck, too!" she said, smiling at him, her cheeks tinted with blush.

"Yeah, whatever, thanks, man," Fame said. placing a hand on his hip. "Best of luck, I guess," he said in a smaller voice, not wanting to actually come off as nice. He then turned to Gabe. "We should start walking..."

Gabe nodded. He had also changed clothing for the exams. He wore a long sleeved black shirt under an orange parka, black jeans and black combat boots. His hair was held back by a black headband and he had a blue backpack hanging from his shoulders. Fame wasn't sure that they needed all of the emergency supplies, but he hadn't argued.

Once Fame started walking and Coyote and Monk walked past them, Nezuko turned to Eira, who still seemed to be troubled by something. "Should we start this incredibly long walk?"

Eira nodded and followed her as she began to walk.

"Shall we go, m'lady?" Kai asked, turning to Marionette with a playful grin.

Marionette glared at him. She wanted him to stop with any kind of nicknames, but no matter how much she hit him for it, it didn't change. She had changed her outfit as well, though her partner did not. She wore a dark red corset top with sleeves, a black ruffled skirt, dark red knee-high stockings and brown boots that covered her ankles. Her bangs were clipped by a few red bobby pins. "We should, but you should really stop with the nicknames. It's unfathomably annoying," she said, falling in step with him as they began to walk up the stairs.

"I think you're cute when you're annoyed," Kai teased.

Marionette glared. "Yeah, and I think you're cute when you're being shot with my magic," she said sarcastically, though she didn't attack him because they needed every ounce of strength they could get for the exams.

"We should head on up." Emery said. She was trying to see Adrian, but he was already really far ahead and she couldn't make out any of the wizards who had went up with Crystal.

Lillay nodded. She didn't bother to change clothing either. There was surely going to battling going on, and she would probably lose her clothing anyway, so she didn't see the point and dressing up in better clothing.

"I'm so pumped for this!' Yuki said, pulling Sara along as they headed for the staircase. He had changed into a red hooded t-shirt with a black stripe across the chest, black cargo shorts, red sneakers, black wrist bands and red goggles. He was ready for the exam. He didn't really care whether they won or lost. He just wanted to fight the S-class wizards.

Sara laughed at him and followed him. She wasn't quite as eager as he was, but his enthusiasm helped her. She had changed her clothing as well. She now wore a white short sleeved sweater, simple yellow skirt, pink knee-high socks and yellow sneakers. Her hair was pulled up into twin tails, held up by pink ribbons.

"Let' go," Hikari said, grinning back Mistere. Neither of the girls had bothered to change outfits for the exams, either and they followed the rest of the examinees, the only people behind them being Kimi, Jared and Winter.

Kimi was quiet as she walked up the staircase. She could feel Jared's eyes on her, but she ignored him.

Winter followed behind them, a magic circle at the end of her fingertips, causing each stair to vanish as she walked up them. She noticed that there was tension between the two in front of her, but it was something that they needed to work out on their own.

* * *

"You made it~" Adrian cheered once all of the examinees had made it up the staircase. Most of them looked a bit tired, but at the same time, they were absorbing the scenery.

The Griffin's Cavern was a huge island in the sky with the underside of it made of huge clear lacrima. There was an area with a bit of grass, greenery and a pond with a waterfall pouring into it from within the mountains. Most of the place was mountainous, with huge cave entrances all throughout the mountain. The entrances of the caves appeared to be decorated by colorful crystal formations. On either side of the collapsing staircase that they had climbed were two huge silver statues of Griffins, sparkling as the suns rays shimmered down on them.

Beside the pond, there was a pink tent and a blue tent. Both were large enough to fit multiple people, but still, many of the mages found themselves staring at the tents, wondering if Winter really planned to make all of the girls share one tent and all of the guys share one tent.

"Uhm, Winter?" Danny started, before she could even speak about the camp.

"Yes?" Winter eyed the mage suspiciously.

"Can I use magic on the camp?" Danny asked.

Winter rolled her eyes. She wanted the mages to become closer, and she had thought it was the perfect plan, but she hadn't thought about Danny's magic. "Sure... Ruin my fun..."

"You were really planning to make all of us sleep in the same little area?" Azura asked, sarcasm oozing from her voice.

"That wouldn't have went well," Monk pitched in.

"Tch... Terrible idea," Coyote hissed.

"Anyway," Danny cleared his throat, stepping forward. He already had the stress of having to deal with the exams and having to battle some of his guild mates at his strongest, he didn't want the stress of listening to his guild mates bicker, too. He pulled the lances off of his back and threw them into the air. "Stitch Magic! Redesign!" he called. The lances began to glow before splitting into multiple sewing needles, all threaded by Danny's belt. They shot for the tents, which began to glow as well as Danny's magic worked away on them. Soon, the two tents disappeared and seemed to flash into Danny's belt and the needles began to make many small, one person tents, until everyone would have their own tent. All of them were fiery red in color and all of them had a name stitched into the front with black thread.

"Well, then," Winter sighed. "I guess you each get your own tent, but if you try to hide away in your tent, I'll punish you!"

"I could undo the magic every morning," Danny pointed out, his needles returning to their lance-like form and then returning to his hands for him to put them up. "I could also make a medical tent if needed, where all the injured mages will be."

"So, you'd undo the magic so that we'd have to spend time together?" Fame asked, glaring at him.

"Yeah... I think it would nice for all of Silver Griffin's strongest mages to get closer to each other, and if we all have to share the same camp during the day, then we'll get closer," Danny said, grinning.

"Ugh... I don't like social interaction anymore than I like being stabbed," Fame said, flipping his hair to reveal darkened eyes.

Ice didn't like socializing, but she silently agreed with the boy.

"I don't think it would be bad for us to interact a bit," Leo said, trying to show that Danny and Winter weren't the only ones who felt as if they needed to get closer.

"I just hope someone doesn't end up getting killed in all of this," Nezuko commented, rolling her eyes. She wasn't the most social being, but she wasn't as bad as some of the guild members. However, she knew that by the end of the month, some of the people would be at each others' throats.

"Eh... I can always stitch together those who misbehave," Danny said, shrugging.

"I'll freeze ya and make ya hold hands!" Winter said, glaring playfully at the guild members.

"Let's cut out the jokes," Crystal said. "Everyone put your stuff up. S-class mages, take your positions and those who aren't participating can do whatever," she said.

Winter glared at her sister, but then nodded. "It is best that you get ready. The first day of the exams is today. I need the examinees to gather here when you get settled so that I can discuss the first part of the exam."

With that, everyone headed for the tents to drop off their equipment into their tents, finding that Danny had alphabetized the names on the tents.

* * *

"Okay, children... First, I must explain some more details of your bracelet," Winter started, once everyone had gathered. The S-class mages had disappeared into a cave entrance, Crystal was sitting by the pond, and Adrian had a clothe spread on the ground and he was sorting through plants that he had found while teaching Cantrelle how to find edible plants in the wild. "I can communicate with you through the bracelets, and if needed, I can teleport you back to the camp, though doing so in the middle of a trial will result in failure. They had special powers that are linked with different trials... This is all on top of the fact that they can be used to communicate with your partner."

Winter paused and made sure that everyone was listening. "Anyway... There will be three trials in this exam, though the second will be the longest, I think. There is a guarantee that one team will make it through the first trial, and as many as eight of you can make it through. With the second trial, it will be possible for all teams to fail and for the exams to end, and no more than three teams will succeed, and for the final challenge, there is a possibility for all teams to fail or all teams to win, or anything in between."

"So... In the end, there will be no more than six new S-class wizards?" Gwen asked.

"Exactly. Though this is a lot, considering that that would be doubling our current number of S-class wizards," Winter said.

`"Now... The first trial... I will not explain all of it for now, but I can tell you that you all will be going into the caves and looking for brightly colored lacrima. There are nine lacrima in the cave. There are only certain parts of the caves that can be traveled, and if you attempt to break down the ice barriers that Crystal and I have faced, you will be weakened by them as they will absorb a good chunk of magic from you. There are three colors of lacrima in the caves, but I will not tell you what each color means. Absorb the lacrima with your bracelet and teleport from the cave in order to complete this part of the trial. You will have three days to find the lacrima, though they are not well hidden, so it shouldn't take anyone that long," she explained.0

The mages sat in front of her in silence. It seemed like a simple challenge, but that couldn't be the end of it, unless the color of the lacrima would just determine whether or not you advanced to the next round.

"You may not attack other mages in this round. If you do, you will be instantly disqualified," she added, before saying, "You may go into the caves from any unblocked entrance... Good luck!" and stepping aside and then walking over to where Adrian and Cantrelle were sitting.

* * *

Gwen and Leo entered the caves through an entrance on the side, noticing that there were light colored crystals that emitted silvery blue lights hanging from the ceiling.

"It's so pretty," Gwen noted, the digital ball appearing in her hand as she scanned the crystals to see if they were made of magic. She decided that now wasn't the time for research and followed behind Leo as they explored the cave.

"So... Bright colored lacrima?" Leo mumbled under his breath. "Could you, like, scan for them?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at Gwen.

"I would, but I don't think it's necessary," she said, giggling as she pointed to a bright green lacrima that was jutting from the cave wall. Was it really that simple? The question rang through her head as she skipped over to the lacrima. Before she could touch it, the cave rumbled and she heard Leo curse. She turned to see a giant spider behind her, made of solid ice. She could tell it was either Winter or Crystal's magic.

Leo summoned his broadsword and dodged with a roll as the spider attempted to step on him. He swung at it after charging his sword with electricity, but his attack was negated and absorbed, causing the spider to turn bright blue with his magic.

Gwen remembered Winter saying that they would be teleported out of the caves if they absorbed the lacrima, so maybe if she absorbed it, they would both teleport. So, she stuck her bracelet up to the lacrima, and watched as her bracelet turned green. She frowned when nothing else happened.

"Storm Wolf: Spark Blow!" Leo called, slamming electrical palms into the spider just as it swung its leg at him. He managed to push the spider back, but it also absorbed more of his electricity, which bothered him.

Gwen frowned and pulled up her Technician Screen. "Barriers: Activate," she said after plotting out a wall around the spider. "Barriers: Reload," she commanded, making it so that the barriers would come back every time that they were destroyed.

Leo watched as the spider was encased in a digital wall that didn't seem to give in when the giant ice insect slammed its legs into it. He grinned at Gwen through the barrier and then ran around it, meeting her at the lacrima and absorbing it. "That was awesome!" he complimented, just as they teleported from the caves.

* * *

Yuki and Sara seemed to have the same luck as Gwen and Leo, spotting a bright green lacrima not long after they entered the caves.

"Is that what we're looking for?" Yuki asked, his tail wagging as he dragged Sara over to the lacrima.

"I think-" Sara's sentence was interrupted as she was scooped up by a giant ape-like ice structure and thrown into the wall. "Owww..." she mumbled.

Yuki growled, his ears pinned back in anger, his fists coating with flames. He thew his fist at the ape, his eyes widening when it began to glow orange with his magic, absorbing it. He growled again and threw another fist, only for the same thing to happen.

At the same time, Sara got up and absorbed the lacrima with her bracelet. "We'll teleport out if we get the lacrima!" she called. She had already noted that the ice structure seemed to absorb magic. When Yuki didn't seem to be listening, she reached out and petted his tail gently. "Yuki-kun..." she cooed in a soft voice.

Yuki's ears stood back up and he turned around to look at his friend. "Sorry, Sara. I was getting worked up because that thing hurt you," he said. With that, he ran over to the lacrima and absorbed it, causing them to teleport.

* * *

"What is that?!" Hikari nearly screeched. The two girls had found a green lacrima, but as soon as they approached it, a monstrous bear made of ice had appeared behind them, roaring loudly. Mistere had been able to react quickly and attack it, but now it was glowing as if it had absorbed her wisps.

"It appears to absorb magic, so it's a safe bet that Winter or Crystal created it," Mistere said. She lifted her hands to use another attack to confirm her theory, but when she did, the bracelet absorbed the lacrima, which caught Hikari's attention.

"Hey, do you think we'll teleport out of here if I absorb this?" she asked as she brought her bracelet up to the lacrima, grinning when they began to teleport, just as the bear attempted to swipe at them with its giant clawed paw.

* * *

"Wow. Winter wasn't lying, these things aren't well hidden," Kai said once he had spotted a green lacrima. He was walking over to it, but Marionette's voice stopped him.

"Wait... Do you not think that this could be some sort of a trap?" she asked in a cautious voice, and when Kai gave her a puzzled look, she rolled her eyes and continued to talk. "It's a green lacrima that is simply sticking from the wall, as if beckoning for us to take it. Would it not be safe to assume that green could be bad...?"

Kai turned back to the lacrima and examined it while letting Marionette's words sink in. "You... You could be right," he said. He then turned to leave, only to notice that all paths in the cave had been sealed.

Marionette had already noticed this too, and her eyes were narrowed. "So... We don't have an option?" she hissed under her breath. Winter could communicate with them and at this rate, Marionette was wondering if she could watch them, too. It would make sense; she needed to watch over them, right?

"Looks like we've gotta absorb the lacrima and teleport," Kai sighed, walking over to the lacrima.

A giant reptilian creature that resembled a crocodile standing on two feet dropped down in front of Marionette, separating her from Kai. It was made of ice, it seemed. Her eye twitch and the look in her reflected how much the creature didn't surprise her. She held her hand up and called "Strike Through!" which shot a beam of light through the creature, only to glare when it absorbed it. "Whatever. Just something to waste magic on," she hissed, realizing that it was probably made from the same magic that Winter and Crystal had used to create the barriers. And with that, she dashed around it, her skill in speed shining through.

She and Kai absorbed the lacrima at the same time and teleoorted.

* * *

"Kimi," Jared started after the pink-haired girl had been walking ahead of him, completely ignoring his existence for the past ten or so minutes that they had been in the caves.

Kimi ignored him, her eyes scanning the area for a lacrima. They may have been a team, but she had no interest in working with him on anything. She just wanted to hurry up with the exams. He had apologized, yes, but it wasn't sincere. He didn't really care. She didn't like people who faked compassion. She noticed a bright yellow one sticking out from a crevice in the wall and smiled to herself, though it was a weak smile. She skipped over to it, ignoring as Jared called her name once more. She stuck her bracelet to it and watched as the bracelet turned yellow.

Jared caught up to her. "Listen, I'm really sorry about leaving you," he said, forcing all of the emotion that he could into the voice.

"Lacrima," Kimi said, nodding towards the lacrima. Her voice had lost its cheery tone and it was driving Jared insane.

"No... Please accept my apology," Jared said, turning to her and ignoring the lacrima.

Kimi shot him a glare and grabbed his hand, which for a second he hoped was a kind gesture, until she stuck his bracelet to the lacrima and caused them to teleport.

* * *

"You'd think that Winter would expect us to work with this more," Fame said as he and Gabe walked over to the green lacrima that they had found. He was about to stick his bracelet to it to absorb it when a giant ogre, made of ice appeared behind them, causing him to turn around.

"There's no use in attacking it," Gabe said, once he had noted what type of magic it was. "It's the same ice that Winter uses to absorb magic, and it's just gonna absorb any attacks we throw at it," he explained.

"Think she did that to make us waste magic if we're not smart?" Fame asked, staring up at the ogre who moved too slow for him to be worried about. Besides, he had encountered ogres before when out on missions, so they weren't that scary to him.

"Probably," Gabe said. He had saved Ikaros from ogres, and he didn't find them to be that intimidating, either. Maybe Winter hadn't expected them to find the lacrima. Either way, he stuck his bracelet to it and watched as his bracelet turned green.

Fame did the same and smirked when they teleported from the caves.

* * *

Coyote didn't even say anything once he noticed the bright blue lacrima that was poking out from the wall, sparkling. It was obviously what they were after, and it was pretty obvious that it wasn't going to be so simple for them to get it. He had been a part of the guild long enough to know that nothing was ever that simple when you had Winter for a guild master. "Tch. Be prepared for anything," Coyote spoke over his shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah," Monk said. He had expected something to happen as well, so he was looking around the cave. He had already noticed that all the paths, including the one that they had came in from, were sealed. They didn't have an option as to what they could do, so they would just have to be ready for what happened when they got near the lacrima.

Coyote lifted his wrist to the lacrima, only to hear sounds from the ceiling as frozen stalactites formed above them. "Those are gonna fall..." he mumbled under his breath as they began to shake. He looked over at his wrist to see that his bracelet had turned blue.

Monk watched the formations on the ceiling for just a moment and then sprinted over to the lacrima, dodging any of the few spikes that fell. He stuck his bracelet to the lacrima, and after a moment, they teleported.

* * *

Nezuko wondered if blue was a good color as she and Eira approached the blue lacrima that they had found in the cave. She heard the faint sound of magic and looked around to notice that they were trapped in the room. Looks like it didn't matter anymore. "We should be careful, Eira," she said the seraphic mage that was a few steps in front of her.

"Our only option is to take the lacrima..." Eira noted in a soft, formal tone.

"I guess you're right, but still," Nezuko said as she caught up with her partner.

They both began to absorb the lacrima, their eyes on the ceiling as icy magic dripped down to form long spikes on the ceiling. Luckily, they didn't have to deal with it, as they were teleported from the cave.

* * *

"So... It's green for us, then?" Lillay said once she felt the ice magic that blocked the exits. She wondered what it would be like for her to eat magic like Winter's or Crystal's, but she wasn't going to test it right now because she wanted all the strength that she could get for the rest of the exams.

"Looks that way," Emery said. She hadn't felt the barriers come up like Lillay had, but she had seen her friend looking around and so she had began to look around as well. She walked over to the lacrima, but turned when she heard Lillay let out a yelp of surprise.

Her eyes widened when she saw the large tiger ice structure behind them. It came complete with a deep, intimidating growl.

"Don't attack it!" Lillay called when Emery raised her hands to fight. "I wanna see what it tastes like." The Ice Dragon Slayer then walked up to the structure and bit into its leg, chomping off a piece of it and eating it. It was definitely yummy, but it didn't give her magic like most ice did, which bothered her. "It doesn't interest me," she said, running past it as it swiped at her. She stretched her arm out to absorb the lacrima, and with that all of the teams had gathered their lacrima.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Sorry if it's a bit long, but I wanted to end with all of the teams gathering their lacrima. So... Yeah. Next chapter will reveal what each lacrima means and such. Leave a review! Thanks for reading.

**Review Responses:**

Thank you all for reviewing, as always~ Lots of love from me.

**La Maitresse' Dame - **I'm really happy that you think I do a good job of portraying Marionette. I hope by this point that I do a good job at portraying everyone. c: I pity Kai as well, though he likes for a girl to be a challenge, so he should be fine with it. XD

**LilTimy - **I'm really happy that you enjoyed the chapter and that you're looking forward to the exams. :D I hope you enjoy this arc. :)

**LinkinParkTheKillersFan - **I hope you enjoy the S-class exams! c:

**shadowssj12 - **I'm glad that you're excited about this arc! c:

**Skye Marvell - **I think all of the S-class characters are going to be a challenge. :) And good luck on your Fairy Tail picture? :)

**Rin Ice Miyako - **Sorry if it's bit boring. I hope you enjoyed this chapter a bit, even though it's a bit uneventful as well. :U


	17. Chapter 16

**Author's Note:** Yay, 'nother chapter! Oh, hi, guys~ Hope you enjoy the chapter.

*****WARNING*****

**If you read the Fairy Tail manga, it won't bother you much because it won't be anything that you haven't seen, but if you do anime only, then this chapter may be a bit bloody for your liking.**

*********PLEASE READ*****

******I've said this before but I will putting it in the first few chapters regarding the S-class exams... I have used a random number generator to determine how each team progresses in the exams. If they got an even number in the generator, they did good, and if not, they did bad. So... Yeah. I also used a generator to determine what color lacrima they got and all of that. I'm not simply choosing who wins by personal favor. :) Don't hate me if your character does poorly.**

******Oh, and in case this doesn't become obvious in the story, when dialogue is ****__****italicized ********that means that they are communicating telepathically with the bracelets. :)**

* * *

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"Adrian..." Cantrelle started once all of the mages were gone and the camp was rather quiet, since Adrian had already finished his explanation of plants.

"Yeah?" Adrian looked over at the little kid. He had flopped back in the grass and was just lying there, staring up at the sky. He felt as if the island was peaceful. They were away from anyone else in the world, and apart from the occasional conversation between Winter and Crystal or Winter and Cantrelle, or the light conversations between the five Exceeds, it was silent aside from the waterfall. He loved it.

"Do you think that either of us will ever be in this exam?" she asked, a smile on her face. She moved over to Adrian and grinned when he moved one arm to hug her. She was starting to see Adrian as her big brother because he was kind and helpful.

"Hm, you, definitely," he said. "You're really strong and determined so there's no doubt that you'll make it to S-class," he said. "Me? I don't care. I'm only in the guild because Emery wants me around, and I don't really care about my standing. I do love helping people, though, which I get to do when I take requests."

"Is there anyone that you think will do really good in the exam?" Cantrelle asked.

"I think all of the mages in Silver Griffin are really strong and determined, so they all have the chance to do beautifully," he responded. "Then again, I think the S-class mages are really strong, too, so maybe it all depends on luck, or who has the strongest will-power in the end."

"I hope lots of people become S-class," she said, sinking down to rest her head on his chest and stare up at the sky. "Do you think that we'll get to come here every year?" she asked.

"Of course," Adrian said, smiling down at her.

* * *

Winter watched as examinees arrived at the camp with their bracelets colored. Once she counted nine pairs of examinees, she stood. "Children in the exam, gather around me," she called, raising her voice. Once she had an audience of eighteen, she spoke. "So.. That was easy, right?" she asked, laughing lightly when the mages nodded. "Anyway... That's not the end of this trial," she said. "First off... I want the pair that got the yellow lacrima to step forward, as the path to your test is glowing currently."

Kimi and Jared stepped forward, showing off the yellow bracelets that they sported.

Winter nodded, smiling. "Your trial will be different than the others... Instead of facing real mages, you will thrown into Crystalline Chaos," she explained.

"...Can we get a better explanation?" Kimi said, noting that it sounded scary. It seemed like they got the short end of the stick, by the name. Then again, she assumed that you could add a word like "Chaos" or "Doom" and make anything sound a little scary. Maybe she would remember that when working on her next spell.

"I'm sorry, but no you cannot," Winter said, smiling lightly. "There is an entrance to the cave that is glowing yellow right now. That is where you will go," she said.

Jared looked back towards the cave system, spotted the entrance,which was a good walk away and then turned back to Winter.

"You may teleport out at any time, and if either of you fall and can't get back up, you will both fail," she explained. "If you win, another path will open up, and you will wait there for trial two..."

"We won't get to come back to the camp and rest?" Kimi asked, worry in her eyes.

"I'm afraid not. The camp is mostly for the break in between trial two and three and for those who fail trial one or two," Winter said. "That is the difficulty behind this exam... There will be very little resting time between trial one and two, and the faster you complete trial one, the more time to rest you will get."

Many of the mages shifted uncomfortably at this, exchanging glances with their partners.

Kimi and Jared exchanged glances and began to walk towards their path after Winter wished them the best of luck.

Once the two had disappeared into the cave entrance, she turned towards the other sixteen wizards. "I need the two teams who have blue bracelets to step forward, now."

Nezuko, Eira, Monk and Coyote stepped forward.

"There is one cave entrance that is glowing blue where all of you will go for the second part of your first trial," Winter explained. "There is a sign in the cave that will explain what the trial is once you are there... Good luck," she said, bidding them farewell.

"What do you think this means?" Nezuko asked Monk once they were walking.

"I dunno. It's something pretty awesome if it involves all of us, though," Monk responded, grinning.

Coyote snorted and Eira remained silent.

"Now... Finally, the rest of you have green, no?" Winter asked, turning back to the remaining twelve mages. Once she received nods from them, she looked towards the caves. "There are six entrances that are green... They will be sealed once a team goes through them, so split up and choose your path... Best of luck!"

* * *

Kimi and Jared found themselves in a large room of the cave, where there were only two paths; the one that they had came from and another that was sealed. There was a number etched in the barrier on the exit that read "0/100".

As soon as they were both in the center of the room, there was a small pinging noise and they were surrounded by ice statues of various intimidating creatures, and the path in which they had came from was now sealed off.

"Do you think that this could be something like Pandemonium from the Grand Magic Games?" Jared asked once the statues stopped appearing and stared down at them, unmoving. He had seen Pandemonium in the games before last, and Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail had performed amazingly in it.

"I hope not..." Kimi mumbled, though she had already summoned her staff and was suspecting that it was. When she stepped a bit closer to Jared, forgetting her anger for the moment, the ice statues began to move towards them, groaning and growling.

"Seems to be," Jared hissed. He then slammed his palms to the ground. "Dark Wave!" he called, sending out a wave of dark magic in every direction, avoiding Kimi, though.

The statues cracked, but they didn't break.

Kimi jumped into the air, figuring that if they were ice, it wouldn't be a problem. "Candy Fire: Sprinkle Attack!" she called, twirling in the air with her hands glowing pink. Little balls of fire shot from every direction at the statues. She was taken aback when they didn't melt but simply cracked more. "That didn't go the way I wanted it," she mumbled sadly once she had landed on the ground.

Jared jumped forward. "Shadow Knuckle!" he called as his fist was coated in darkness and he punched one of the statues, destroying it. There was a small beep and the number on the exit changed to "1/100".

"We've really gotta defeat 100 of these?" Kimi asked, her eyes coating with tears. She didn't have that much magic. She didn't want to fail the first trial though.

Jared continued to slam his fists into the statues. but when he heard the sadness in Kimi's voice, he looked over at her. "We can do this, Kimi. Just start attacking. It'll seem like nothing when we start destroying them!"

Kimi glanced at him and nodded, though there was still uncertainty in her eyes. She turned back to the statues, noticing that more were spawning as Jared destroyed them. The number was up to "7/100" now. "Let's do this," she mumbled under her breath. With that, she twirled around and the staff began to glow. "Cosmic Magic: Starry Night!" she called.

Jared looked up as the ceiling turned deep pink and glowing balls of pink magic fell from it, locking onto the monster. It was quite pretty, but he didn't have time to be distracted by it. He landed on the ground and raised his arms. "Dark Entanglement!" he called, causing tendrils of darkness to shoot from the ground and wrap around the statues, squeezing them and causing a couple of them to burst and vanish.

Kimi twirled around again, her smile returning finally, as she got into the swing of the battle. "Candy Fire: Frosting Swirl!" she called, sending out spirals of flames to engulf a few of the statues, destroying them.

"14/100".

Jared noticed that Kimi was getting lost in her own little world and returning to her normal self. Even though it would probably end once the battle was over, he was happy to see it. "Watch out!" he called once his eyes shot to a giant troll-like creature who was swinging its fist at Kimi, his mind completely snatched from his thoughts about her.

The pink mage turned just in time to see the fist slam into her side and throw her into the ceiling. She let out a surprised cry and fell to the ground.

"Dark Wave!" Jared called again, slamming his palms to the ground and blasting the creatures that were near him back so that he could run over to Kimi, who was now struggling to her feet, blood running down the corner of her mouth, the back of her shirt ripped up by the jagged rocks that she had crashed into. "Are you okay?" he asked. His voice wasn't full of panic like some mages' would have been, but his eyes reflected a bit of worry.

"I'm okay~" Kimi said, turning to him and smiling. "I'm not weak. I can take a few hits~" she added, twirling. She then dashed forward, her staff glowing and smacked the statue that had attacked her with the staff, destroying it.

Jared smiled. She was back to normal. It made him happy. He turned his attention back to the battle just in time to jump out of the way of a punch from another creature, only to be smacked in the back by the tail of some reptilian creature. He stumbled forward. "Dark Ray!" He called, sending out dark beams out of his palms, destroying the creature in front of him and then turning to see that Kimi had already destroyed the figure that had hit him. She smiled at him when they made eye contact and then went about with the fight. Jared hadn't smiled this much since she had started hanging around him. He turned his attention back to the battle as well, though. "Dark Entanglement!" he called, wrapping the statues in tendrils once again and squeezing them. If he was alone, this would be no problem, but he wasn't going to use his stronger magic with Kimi around; there was no way she could run.

"25/100", the number read after Kimi used another Sprinkle Attack on the already cracking monsters.

"We're a quarter of the way done," she said, after bashing another monster with her glowing staff. Something that she didn't normally admit is that she wasn't a close-ranged attacker, and it was hard for her to coat her fists or feet in fire. She wasn't sure why. She could, but it used too much magic for her liking. "Candy Fire: Cupcake Explosion!" she called, hopping into the air and sending out two exploding, fiery cupcakes to destroy some more monsters.

Jared had once again resulted in beating the monsters down with shadowy fists, as it saved on magic to do so. They needed to conserve their magic as much as possible. "How are you doing in terms of magic?" he asked when he heard Kimi land near him.

"Good," she replied. She was doing fine, apart from the pain in her back from being slammed into the ceiling. However, that wasn't the last attack that was going to be landed on her. She attacked again with her staff, destroying another monster, only to have one that was behind her pick her up by her leg and sling her into a wall. She screamed, but managed to land on her feet as she slid down the wall. Her legs were shaky for a moment, but she would be okay. "Candy Fire: Sugary Blast!" she cried out, blasting herself forward and sending an explosion of pink fire in every direction, destroying any of the monsters in the room that had been hit by Jared already. "36/100" the sign read.

"Nice," Jared said, pressing his palms to the ground to send out another dark pulse in attempt to knock out some more of the statues. He could feel that he had used a good bit of magic, though he still had plenty left. They didn't know what the second trial was going to be, though, so he was worried. His thoughts were snapped back to reality when Kimi was smacked again, slamming into the wall for a third time. He watched, his brows furrowed with worry, letting out a sigh when she got back up, smiled and continued to fight. She wasn't that great with watching her back and being aware of her surroundings, he noted.

Kimi continued to fight, sending out massive blasts of Candy Fire. Between her blasts and Jared's wave, they managed to beat down fifty monsters before they were both breathing a bit heavily, Kimi more so than Jared.

"You know... I can take care of it for a bit if you need to rest," Jared said, looking at Kimi, who was standing beside him. She was battered and she had since removed her shirt, wearing a pink, strapless slip and her shorts.

"No," she shook her head. "We're a team, and we're gonna beat this as a team, even if I get beat down. I'll pull through~" she said, holding her staff tightly in both hands. The white of the staff was stained with her blood, and she would have to clean it later.

Jared nodded and sighed. "Let's go," he said, charging forward with shadowy fists.

Kimi smiled and went her own way. "I'm gonna have to do this..." she mumbled, remembering the attack that she had taught herself during her training. She held her staff into the air, her arm shaking slightly as the staff began to glow, turning the entire cave around them a bright pink.

"What are you doing...?" Jared asked, noticing that the monsters had stopped moving and were glowing as well. There were about twenty or so in the room at the moment.

"New magic," Kimi answered. With that, her body began to glow. "Cosmic Magic: Galaxy Smash!" she cried, falling to one knee as her staff shot a bright beam into the ceiling and then pulsed around them. There was a sparkling noise as all of the magic shot into the monsters, destroying all of them and then shooting into the staff, which Kimi threw into the air like a baton as she climbed to her feet. She caught the staff, and just as more monsters were spawning, she shot a huge beam out of the staff and took out five more, bringing the monster count up to "79/100."

Jared blinked, his eyes readjusting to the normal glowing light of the cave. He ran over to Kimi as she fell to her knees, unsummoning her staff. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine..." she breathed. Her heart was pounding and everything hurt to the point where she had tears in her eyes. "I... I'll have to rest a moment... I-I'm sorry... Cosmic magic is hard. Mellie-chan never got around to teaching much of it to me..."

Jared wondered who "Mellie" was, but he remembered that she had a deceased big sister, and assumed that it was her. "It's okay. Get your strength back. I'll protect us..." he said. He had an urge to use his Dark Ecriture, but he didn't want to think about how Kimi would react to it, so he pushed it to the back of his mind. He also considered how much his other magic would work against the creatures, but they didn't appear to be living creatures, so he was worried that it wouldn't work, and he didn't want to waste magic. Stepping away from Kimi, he called, "Dark Delete!" which made dark pits below ten of the monsters, making them sink into the darkness and disappear. The spell was magic consuming, though, and he realized instantly that it wouldn't be good to use it to defeat the last eleven monsters

He ran and punched a few of the monsters out with "Shadow Knuckle" before using "Dark Entanglement" to trap the remaining seven monsters. He then pressed his palms to the ground to use a "Dark Wave" to damage them. He was trying to catch his breath when Kimi stood, shaking. She raised her hands to attack, but he caught her. "I have more magic than you, and we need magic to survive the next trial," he panted, sweat on his forehead, his eyes darkened.

"I can do it, though," she said, smiling brightly at him. "You're running low on magic, too," she said. She then hesitated. "Or we can both attack," she said, laughing lightly.

"Fine, we'll both attack," Jared said. With that, he used another "Dark Wave" will Kimi used "Candy Fire: Sugary Blast". Each of them took out three monsters and their magics met to take out the final creature. The door pinged and disappeared once it hit "100/100".

"We did it~" Kimi said, smiling brightly and throwing her arms around Jared's shoulders.

"Yeah..." he breathed. She didn't seem to be upset with him anymore, which made him so happy. Smiling, he gently wrapped his arms around her as well.

She backed up after a moment and her eyes narrowed. "Don't think I'm not upset with you, still. That was really mean of you and I was so lonely because everyone was training and I was completely alone!" she snapped, glaring.

"I'm sorry..." Jared said. Okay, so she was still angry, but at least she wasn't being quiet anymore.

"You'd better be! You're so mean, but you're still awesome, and I still like you, so I won't return your meanness with my own, but I can, so remember that~" With that, she kissed him on the cheek and headed for the exit.

* * *

Meanwhile...

"She said that there would be a sign in here, right?" Monk asked, looking around the large cavern that they had entered. He noticed the large note that was etched into the wall and began to read it. "'It's team versus team! So fight! One team will not be progressing!'," he read, his eyes widening.

"What?" Nezuko walked over to him while Eira took her place on one side of the cave, away from Coyote. She scanned the sign herself. "Awesome," she said, smirking and jumping back, taking her place beside Eira. "Are you two ready?"

Monk grinned. "Hell yeah," he said, taking his place beside Coyote. "Ladies first?" he said in a joking tone. He didn't imagine that he would have to fight Nezuko and her friend, but he really hoped that they would give it their all. He knew that he would be, and Coyote would be, too.

"Fine," Nezuko said. The deep golden magic circle appeared under her as she used her Rat Take-Over magic to transform into her rat form, smirking deviously.

"Seraphic Summoning: Wings of an Angel!" Eira called, summoning her wings so that she would be able to fly. There wasn't much room in the cavern to fly, but if she was in the air, they would at least have to jump to hit her, which may help in the long run.

"Hm, already going with our buffers, are we?" Monk asked, watching the two girls. "Fine," he said, shrugging. He then held his hands together under his chin in a praying manner, mumbling "Barah Rami," under his breath.

Coyote wasn't suspicious of the light that traveled from his friend to him this time, and he welcomed the strength enhancing blessing. His tattoos then began to glow as he activated "Animal Seith: Gorilla" and "Animal Seith: Rhino" so that he had a strength enhancer and a strength by momentum enhancer.

Monk noticed the rhinos that were glowing on Coyote's arms, so he decided to test out the communication capabilities of the bracelets. _"Oi, Coyote. One, can you hear me and two, what does the rhino soul do?" _he asked telepathically. He knew that Coyote's magic worked by absorbing the essence from the souls of departed animals, which the man held in the beads around his neck, but he couldn't remember what the rhino did. He figured it would have something to do with strength, but he wasn't sure.

_"I can hear you, jackass, and it boosts my strength in regards to momentum," _Coyote explained.

_"Okay! Sounds awesome. I can give you another blessing then," _Monk said, happiness in his voice, even though Coyote was the only one that could hear it at the moment. With that, Monk clapped his hands under his chin again, but he didn't get time to say another blessing because Nezuko's tail batted him into the cave wall, making him let out a surprised cough.

"Tch. Idiot...!" Coyote hissed. The animal mage had seen the rat mage coming and had already dodged. His eyes weren't even on Nezuko, though, as he knew that she was occupied with Monk. He was watching Eira, who had summoned her Seraphic Blade during the time and was aiming for him, flying at him with full speed. Coyote didn't even bother to dodge, since he was running. He bashed his fist into the blade, shattering it and sending Eira backwards.

Eira grimaced and flapped her wings furiously to keep from crashing into the ceiling. "Seraphic Summoning: Heaven's Bow!" she called, summoning a glowing blue bow and arrow and shooting an arrow at Coyote.

Coyote dodged by stepping to the side. More of his tattoos began to glow as he activated "Animal Seith: Eagle" which allowed him to fly for a short amount of time. He jumped up and kicked Eira in the side, sending her to the ground.

Nezuko batted Monk away when he got close to her again and then sprung backwards, her Take-Over form extremely quick and nimble. "Departed souls, help me!" she called, her beady eyes flashing. A bunch of wisps that were in the shape of rats scattered from the ground and danced around Nezuko, squeaking and chattering at her. "Attack them!" she called, pointing to Monk and Coyote.

Monk jetted backwards, his Fighter's Aura now activated to enhance his own speed and strength. The rat spirits moved quickly, though and began to nip at him. He noticed that while they weren't doing physical damage, they seemed to be feasting on his magic. "The hell?" he glared at them, jumping away and trying to stay away from them. At the same time, he bolted towards Nezuko, swinging his fists at her, missing as she bent her back to the point where she was standing on her hands.

Nezuko flipped back and in the process slammed her tail over Monk's head and knocked him to the ground before putting distance in between them and glaring.

Coyote had been dodging arrows and trying to land hits on Eira when he noticed the rat spirits climbing up the walls, to the ceiling, and attempting to land on him. "Tch. Dead rats?" he growled, dodging the falling rat wisps.

At the same time, Eira took advantage of him being distracted and slashed her sword through his back and kicked him towards the ground, his shirt being cut in half and falling off.

Coyote snarled in pain as he fell, but before he could recover from the injury or land, Nezuko was under him, batting him back to Eira with her tail.

"Dammit, he's in trouble!" Monk noted, sprinting and jumping into the air, punching Eira in the back as hard as he could, crippling her wings and causing them to disappear.

Coyote rolled in the air and turned around, sending his leg crashing over Nezuko's head, rocks flying in every direction as she was bashed into the ground.

Nezuko and Eira let out screams of pain, both landing on the ground, though Eira didn't land as hard as Nezuko.

They were both motionless for a couple of minutes and Monk and Coyote put distance between themselves and the girls, wondering if that was the end of the battle.

Eira climbed to her feet first, her dress now ripped up, bruises on her arms and scratches on her legs. She didn't bother to summon her wings this time, not wanting to waste the magic. Her eyes were on Nezuko, though, who was no longer in Take-Over form. She smiled to herself when the girl started to move, the worry that was bubbling inside her head dissipating.

Nezuko groaned and pulled herself shakily to her feet, blood staining the side of her face, her hoodie falling from her body, leaving her in nothing but a bra and skirt and revealing the bruises dotting random spots of her body. "Erg..." she groaned. "Eira... Let's keep at this?" she said, glaring at the two guys.

Monk wondered if it was okay to keep fighting with the girls' conditions but he also had to keep himself from letting his eyes drop, since Nezuko's shirt seemed to have fallen off.

He didn't have time to think much about calling it quits in the battle because Coyote charged forward, attempting to punch Nezuko.

Nezuko attempted to dodge, but her head began to spin, so she stumbled and ended up falling into Coyote's fist instead, blood splattering from her mouth as the fist was slammed into her stomach and she was sent flying backwards.

Eira acted fast, resummoned her sword and slashed Coyote in the arm and then called "Seraphic Summoning: Heaven's Judgement!" With that, her hand began to glow and she blasted Coyote with stunning blue light, sending him crashing to one of the cave walls.

Monk's fist landed in her back again as she finished attacking Coyote, knocking her down.

Nezuko's head was spinning her vision was double, but she forced herself back to her feet again, stumbling. Her stomach hurt with every breath she took, but she wanted to continue to fight. "Departed Souls... I need you again..." she breathed.

The rat spirits scattered to Coyote, who was the only one that she pointed to, beginning to eat away at his magic before he could get up.

"Eira... The spirits will keep him... We... Attack... Monk," she said, stepping forward, the magic circle appearing under her. "Rat Take Over: Spirit Form!" she called. The Take-Over went the same as her regular take over, but her tail was longer and glowing as young rats danced around it, ready so slash away at her opponent's magic, and her claws were transparent and seemed to be made of rat spirits as well. This was her more powerful form, but her magic would be gone soon as it took a lot of magic to maintain.

Eira climbed to her feet and nodded, though she was weak and in a tremendous amount of pain. She resummoned her blade for the umpteenth time and let out a small sigh as Nezuko joined her.

Coyote attempted to fight the spirits off, but he couldn't. They were barely even attacking his magic and their aim seemed to be to keep him down. Every time he would punch a cluster of them off, more seemed to appear.

Monk didn't really want to fight the girls' in their conditions, but he didn't want to forfeit, really. He knew if he went all out, that it wouldn't be hard for him to win, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. So, instead, he dodged every attack they through at him and once Nezuko's tail did land a hit and he was only pushed back instead of knocked down, he realized that they were running out of energy.

When Nezuko hit Monk, Eira attempted to slash at the mage, but once it started cutting into him, it disappeared, no longer having enough magic to be supported by her. She fell to her knees, breathing heavily. They hadn't trained enough. She had been so distracted.. They were going to lose this.

Nezuko's Take-Over form vanished and she too fell to her knees, panting. There was no way. She looked at the bracelet on her wrist to see that it was flashing red. Damn. There was just no way. She looked back at Coyote to see that the rats had vanished and he was walking over to join his friend.

"No hard feelings, right?" Monk asked, crouching in front of Nezuko.

"Of course not..." Nezuko breathed. "You two win..." she added, sinking back and turning to Eira. "Would you agree?" she asked.

Eira nodded silently.

"Good luck on the next trial," she said, just as her bracelet turned red and she and Eira were teleported out of the caves and the barrier that had been blocking the next path was dropped, though the barrier to the way they had came remained.

"Looks like we won," Monk said, grinning. However, he was a bit worried about Nezuko, but he was sure that she would be patched up and tended to at the camp, so he pushed the thoughts away.

"Hell yeah. What else would expect?" Coyote said boastfully. He then walked over to the two shreds of his shirt and messily wrapped one around his bicep and one around his back, slowing the bleeding of the two wounds that Eira had given him.

"We're pretty damn awesome," Monk commented as they walked down the next path. He wasn't quite as beaten up as Coyote was, though there were deep bruises all over his body from Nezuko smacking him around with her tail.

"Tch, yeah," Coyote agreed.

* * *

At the camp...

The Exceeds had been spending most of their time together since their partners were all busy at the moment. Though they had noticed that Cross seemed to be sitting away from them, being antisocial just as her partner was.

"Hey, you know, you don't have to be so antisocial," Artemis started, walking over to her, Terra, Izzy and Nikko following her.

Cross looked over at the other four Exceeds and glared at them. "I don't think there is much of a reason for me to talk to any of you," she said flatly.

"Oh, c'mon. It's gotta be boring without your partner around," Artemis said.

Cross only continued to glare at them.

"I don't think we should bother with her if she's just going to glare at us like that," Terra said. She didn't like the look that Cross was giving her and she wasn't completely for extending a loving hand, even though she didn't mind being around the other Exceeds.

"S-Some people j-just like to b-be alone..." Nikko stammered, blushing brightly. "F-Fame d-doesn't l-like to be a-around p-p-people... Much..."

"Why? How come so many people in this guild hate people?" Izzy asked. "Lillay doesn't hate people too much, I don't think."

"Azura is okay with people, I think... She prefers to be with her team and stuff, though," Artemis said.

"Stark is social, but he likes to work alone so that he can do S-class missions," Terra said. She then turned to Nikko. "Why do you stammer so much?" she asked.

Nikko backed away and his face darkened with blush. "I-I... I'm s-sorry..." he stammered. "I-I g-get really n-nervous around... o-others."

"I like being around people. I like to talk," Artemis said. "You really don't talk enough, though," she said, frowning.

"Aw, don't be mean to him if he doesn't like to talk," Izzy said, taking up the male Exceed. "Besides, we all have our weaknesses, and for Nikko and Cross, it may be social situations."

"It's not a weakness. I'm perfectly capable of socializing," Cross said bluntly. "I just don't like to." With that, she got up and after using Aera to make her wings, flew off.

"Maybe Exceeds take after their partners," Izzy commented, placing a hand on her hips.

"I DO NOT take after that idiot known as Stark!" Terra snapped, a vein swelling on her head. "Do not say that, ever!"

"I-I d-don't think F-Fame stammers un-unless his m-mom gets m-mad at h-him for not v-visiting," Nikko said. "I-I don't th-think we're a-alike."

"I don't know if Azura and I are alike..." Artemis said. She didn't flirt or fight like Azura did, but they could both talk a good bit if they wanted to. In the end, she was pretty sure that they weren't alike. "Nah, I don't think your statement is correct, Izzy."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Annnnndddd... that's the end of this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it! We have two teams that will be in the second trial so far. Writing big battles that are important like that isn't easy... T_T Erm... I don't concentrate on the Exceeds much and I sometimes forget about them, so I decided to make that little part at the end~ c: _**OH, guys, thanks to the suggestion of Fairytailwolf6, I will be letting you guys vote for 7 people for the GMGs, and the top 5 will be the team, and the top 2-4 after that will be reserve. So... Think of 5-7 people you want to vote for throughout this arc and the following**_** arcs.**

**Review Responses: **

Thank you all so much for reviewing, as always! Lots of love from me. c:

**Junior the Otaku - **Glad to see that you're back. I'm glad you like the Griffin's cavern. c: Hehe. Thanks for the compliments. As for baddies on the island, I really wasn't planning on it, but a lot of people seem to be anticipating it, so I may throw something in. It won't be something huge and there won't be a 7 year timeskip and the S-class exams will actually finish, though. :) Hehe... I'm glad you think that I write battles well... I actually feel sometimes as if it's my weakspot. With Kimi's past, I figured stage magicians could be a thing, because some magic is really pretty. :) Glad that a lot of the mages interest you, too. I think this fic has some interesting magics, and to be honest, sometimes when I writing I forget that I'm the only one who knows every characters magic completely, since I have all the character outlines in 52 page long document. O_O

**La Maitresse' Dame - **I'm sorry about your laptop. Good luck on getting it repaired or getting a new one, if you plan to? I'm really happy that you like the scene between the light mages. I really thought the part that you liked was bold of me because I didn't know if Marionette would actually say something like that.

**shadowssj12 - **I'm really happy that you're looking forward to the chapters! c:

**LilTimy - **The lacrima meanings have been revealed. Did you get any of them right? :) And I agree that many of the pairings are really cute. :)

**Rin Ice Miyako -** I'm going to be trying my hardest to push out an update every day until I go back to college in 2-3 weeks, and then I'm going to get at least 1 update a week out, but hopefully more.

**LinkinParkTheKillersFan - **I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter. Kimi's not hard to cheer up, as obvious in this chapter. She's just too naturally happy to stay mad for too long. XD

**Skye Marvell - **Practice makes perfect in terms of drawing, so keep at it! :D

**Nicky Azure - **I will be updating daily for the next 2-3 weeks, until I go back to college. Providing that busy days don't happen. And then it will be weekly, or possibly 2-3 times a week, so lots of updates will be happening! :D I hope I don't disappoint with the battles. c:


	18. Chapter 17

Author's Note: Hi, guys~ Another chapter. All of the events in the caves, including the two from the last chapter, are happening at the same time, but what's going on at the camp may be happening a bit later, such as scenes that show the injured people being tended to.

Remember the warning from the last two chapters, people. :) I'm not being biased towards characters, I promise. :)

**Oh. Since votes for the GMGs team are starting to be cast, here's a long list of characters that can be voted for, as well as the base of their magic. Remember, vote for 5-7 characters. If you vote for less than 5, I will tell you, and I will also remind you that your vote will not count. You may vote for your own OCs. I will not be putting a poll up because I'm worried about people not being able to change their votes. I will post this list again at the beginning of the arc before the GMGs, and you will be able to change your vote at any time. Some of their magics aren't revealed, and I will not list magics that aren't revealed. However, most of the magics that aren't revealed are probably something that the character wouldn't use in battles that are for fun anyway or they will be revealed in this arc, so it won't matter. You can PM me your vote if you don't want to review with it. I don't mind. This is sorta a big part of the story so I'd love it if people would vote. :) If your character isn't on the main team or reserve, they will get a part in the story, so don't get extremely upset if they aren't voted for.**

**Exceeds will sit on the sidelines and cheer just as Happy, Carla, Lily, Fro and Lector did.**

**Also, final note: Please think about who the characters will be up against and what kind of battles your vote could make happen. I haven't planned the GMGs at all yet because I want to close voting in the middle of the arc before the GMGs and plan around the team that I get.**

**-Kai – Light Magic**

**-Jared – Dark magic, dark ecriture**

**-Yuki – Fire Kitsune slayer magic**

**-Coyote – Animal Seith**

**-Leo – Storm Wolf(Name of his electricity magic) and Sword Art**

**-Monk – Healing magic, Fighter' Aura, blessings**

**-Stark – Stone dragon slayer**

**-Gabe – Copycat magic**

**-Danny - Stitch magic**

**-Fame – Blue lightning**

**-Adrian – Nature/Garden magic**

**-Sara – Sky God Slayer**

**-Hikari – Earth Dragon Slayer, Sound Magic**

**-Ice – Magic Dragon Slayer, weapon stuff**

**-Sharon – Air magic**

**-Mistere– Magic wisps**

**-Ikaros – Change magic**

**-Azura – dual katanas: New Moon and Full Moon**

**-Lillay – Ice Dragon Slaying**

**-Kimi – Candy Fire and Cosmic Magic with staff**

**-Emery – Garden/Nature magic**

**-Marionette – Light magic**

**-Nezuko – Rat magic, Rat Take-Over**

**-Gwen – Technician magic**

**-Eira– Seraphic magic**

* * *

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

At the camp...

Nezuko was barely even able to stand when she teleported out of the caves, and she looked to Eira to see that the girl seemed to be in about the same condition. They had lost pretty badly, in her opinion, but they had tried their best, and that was what counted, right? They would try to be S-class mages at a later date.

"Nezuko and Eira, right?" Adrian said, noticing when they appeared. He then ran to collect their bed rolls and lay them out beside the pond so that they would be easy to watch. Winter had already informed him that she was watching the battles through a lacrima, and that there were going to be injuries, so he, Crystal and Cantrelle were on nurse duty. Adrian knew the names of all of the examinees and and S-class wizards by talking to Winter and Cantrelle.

At the same time that Adrian was working, Crystal and Cantrelle were gathering bandages and the medicinal cream that Adrian had made that was meant to relieve pain and speed up healing a bit.

After Adrian spread their beds out, he ran over to them. "Can you two walk? I don't mind carrying you," he said, smiling down at the girls.

Nezuko attempted to stand, but ended up back on her knees, coughing up blood. This was humiliating.

Eira was able to stand, though it was very shakily.

Adrian scooped Nezuko up in his arms bridal style and then turned his shoulder to Eira. "You should lean on me," he said. Eira did so silently and Adrian led them over to their beds, helping both of them to lay down.

Cantrelle and Crystal then got to work with bandaged them up.

"I bet you did your absolute best," Adrian commented, smiling. "Now it's time to rest," he said, before turning to walk over to Winter to talk to her about the trials.

"You two took a beating," Crystal commented. "Cantrelle, help me to bandage her head up," she said, lifting Nezuko's head up.

"Right," Cantrelle said. "What happened?" she asked once she saw the gashes in Nezuko's head.

"I got kicked," Nezuko sighed.

"Those hoodlum boys are strong... I'll have to give them that," Crystal said, sighing.

"Is everyone who comes out of there going to be this beat up?" Cantrelle asked, worry in her eyes. She hadn't expected there to be blood and wounds, really.

"Probably, unless they're lucky or really strong," Crystal answered, causing Cantrelle to hum nervously.

"Ergg... It's okay... We're all strong so we'll be healed in no time," Nezuko said. Her voice was weak. Her body hurt, but there were places like her head and stomach that hurt so much more. She just wanted to rest after all that, but she wanted to stay awake to see how everyone did. She was worried about Gwen and Emery. She wasn't going to be able to, though. She could feel her body screaming for sleep. "Um, Cantrelle... Could you tell me when Gwen or Emery come out?"

"Of course," Cantrelle answered.

Eira was silent during the entire process. She would have to apologize to Nezuko later, as she felt that everything was her fault. If she had been able to take her mind off of her brother and train all day, every day like Nezuko wanted, they probably would have won, or at least not gotten beaten so badly. She wondered if Nezuko was secretly angry at her; the rat girl had even received the worse injuries of the two.

* * *

Meanwhile in the caverns...

Ikaros was walking around her little cavern, humming to herself. She was waiting patiently for one of the green lacrima finders to come into her area. She was wondering who she was going to get. With the deal that Winter had made her, she wasn't going to go easy on anyone. She was going to show her true strength. She had even changed her clothing again for battle, not wanting to ruin the clothes that Kimi had helped her pick out. She was dressed in a sold black outfit that consisted of a tank top, short shorts, knee socks and combat boots. Her hair was tied into a ponytail now to ensure that it would stay out of her way. There was a belt underneath her shorts that had four daggers and some needles that were dipped in sleeping serum, just in case she found herself in a situation where she couldn't use her magic.

The fact that she was antsy was showing as she paced the room. She wondered how Kimi and Gabe were doing. She didn't even know what color lacrima anyone had gotten. She really wished that Crystal and Winter would have let them stick around to see the results of the lacrima search instead of making them stick around in their caverns the entire time. She was so bored and nervous. She didn't want to fight Kimi or Gabe in all honesty. She would go all out on them, but she would scared for them the entire battle.

Her narrowed eyes widened when the barrier that was over the entrance to her cavern dropped and a barrier went over the path that would lead to the next trial. She readied herself for what was coming.

Yuki and Sara were both silent as they walked down the path that they had chosen. Sara had already deduced that by there being six S-class wizards and six teams with green lacrima, that they would be facing one of the S-class wizards. She had done just a bit of research into the six, knowing what type of magic that each of them used and which ones had been S-class the longest and after her research, she had concluded that she was scared of facing all of them.

Yuki wasn't scared, but he could tell that Sara seemed to be lost in her own little world, and so he didn't bother to talk. She seemed to be thinking really hard about something. He hadn't put much effort into researching the S-class wizards; he didn't really about how tough they were because he was really just looking forward to a good fight.

Ikaros smiled and her eyes narrowed again when the fox boy and his partner stepped into the room, looking around the large cavern that was lit by glowing pink stones. "Welcome," she greeted them as the path behind them was sealed off. "I'm the S-class wizard that you will be fighting, and if you want to progress in the exams, you'll have to defeat me together," she said, saying the words that she was instructed to say.

"Ikaros, right?" Sara asked, tilting her head. She knew that she could use a type of magic known as change magic and that most people would describe it as being similar to reequip magic because of the way that she used it.

Ikaros nodded and the stalactites that hung from the ceiling began to glow as she turned them into two spiked gauntlets that covered her hands. "I'm not going to go easy on you two at all, so I'm really sorry if you don't win," she called as she sped forward at incredible speed.

Sara froze, unsure what to do, while Yuki charged, his tail and fists already ablaze with fire. He wasn't going to go easy at all, either. Just as Ikaros's fist collided with his arm, cutting him, he grabbed her with a fiery tail and threw her against the wall, growling deeply, the fire showing in his eyes.

Sara wasn't going to go easy, even if Ikaros's speed had thrown her off a bit. She stepped forward and threw her arm into the air, her eyes narrowed. "Sky God's Vortex!" she called, throwing a spiraling wave of black wind off of her arm, aiming for Ikaros.

Ikaros was quick to recover and even though she had been pretty hard by Yuki's tail, she flipped in mid air and the rocks around the cave began to glow before coming together to make a rock shield that blocked Sara's attack and blocked Yuki, who was charging at her again, all together.

Yuki let out a cry of surprise when he slammed into the barrier head first. He was still ablaze as he stepped back and rubbed his forehead, a deep growl still sounding from his throat.. As soon as the shield fell, he was running towards Ikaros, not noticing that her weapon had changed to a short sword and a shield. He was going too fast to stop before he crashed into the shield and was thrown into the air.

Ikaros was going to attack again, but she was punched with an air covered fist by Sara and thrown back, her sword and shield being unsummoned for the time being. Her boots skidded against the ground but she stopped before she hit the wall.

Yuki landed beside Sara and snarled ferociously. "Don't think that we're gonna back down easily just because you can take a few hits!" he called out. With that, he lifted his palms towards Ikaros and yelled "Fire Kitsune's Raging Flame Buster!" Blasts of fire shot from his palms towards Ikaros.

Ikaros hopped into the air, dodging the blasts of fire and then summoning up a crossbow that was worn on her wrist and firing an arrow a piece at Sara and Yuki before changing the bow into a long spear and throwing it at Yuki, who had dodged the arrow and was grabbing for her with an extended fiery tail.

Sara managed to dodge the arrow and she called out "Sky God's Bellow!" just in time to send out a blast of wind to knock the spear away from Yuki and knock Ikaros from the air.

It still wasn't much of a success though, as Ikaros regained her footing skillfully in mid air and summoned up a boomerang, throwing it at Sara's ankles and swiping her feet out from under her before she had time to react.

Sara let out a surprised gasp as she hit the ground and a bit of pain pulsed in her ankle. She could see a bruise forming.

Yuki scampered over to Sara and pulled her up. _"Do your wind and I'll do my fire and we'll attack her!"_ He spoke telepathically, grinning deviously at his partner.

Sara nodded and turned to Ikaros who was sort of bouncing giddily, though her eyes were still narrowed to depict that she was serious about the battle. Her cheeks and abdomen swelled as she prepared to use her bellow once again. "Sky God's Bellow!" she called.

At the same time, Yuki called out, "Fire Kitsune's Flaring Fist!" and punched the bellow that was coming from Sara, causing it to burst into flames, creating a dark orange vortex that weaved its way towards Ikaros.

Ikaros leaped into the air in attempt to dodge the fiery vortex, but when she looked behind her to realize that it was following her, magic circles danced on her hands as she summoned up a large shield, using the rocks and various formations around the cave to do so. She blocked the attack, only to feel her shield cracking after a couple of moments. She attempted to resummon up another shield, but she wasn't quite fast enough to do so and she let out a small cry as the vortex burst through her shield and knocked her back, burning her. She still managed to land on her feet when she fell, but she was shaken by the attack.

Yuki didn't let up on the attacks as he shot his flaming tail forward and attempted to smack the nimble S-class mage.

Ikaros dodged and then summoned up a tomahawk, throwing it at Sara. She had realized already that Sara wasn't quite as into the battle as her partner and so she thought targeting her more would either get her more into the battle or cause them to lose.

Sara jumped out of the way only to find that she didn't have to, as Yuki pumped up the fire on his tail and blocked the tomahawk from his friend. She needed to attack more. She didn't want Yuki to fight most of the battle alone. So, summoning up both her courage and her magic, black wind danced around her and she called out "Sky God's Dance!" as she threw her arms forward and the black wind began to dance around Ikaros.

Ikaros attempted to leap out of the spiral of wind, only to find that she couldn't. So, she summoned up a tough suit of armor and a shield and shielded her face, letting herself be thrown around for the cyclone. When it was over, she landed feet first on the wall and bounced all, letting her defensive equipment disappear as it was too heavy for her combat style. She saw a look of surprise in the younger girl's face. She wished that she had advice for them, but neither of them seemed to work with weapons, so she couldn't give them pointers. Summoning up one large broadsword, she jetted forward.

Yuki charged as well, the fiery outline to three new tails now behind him as his rage started to burn within him. He was determined to win this fight. When he noticed that Ikaros was about to swing her sword, he called out "Fire Kitsune's Flame Possession!" and stopped in his tracks. His body turned to pure flames and the broadsword slashed right through him.

Ikaros was surprised by the move, until she realized that he didn't attack afterwords, which let her know that the technique was purely defensive, though it was a good defense. Instead of waiting for the technique to be over, she dashed for Sara, now holding twin blades.

Sara dodged as Ikaros slashed repeatedly at her, but she didn't realize how close she was to the cave wall until she bumped into it and let out a small whimper.

Ikaros unsummoned the blades and then held her hand up, causing a chunk of the wall to turn into a giant hammer that smashed Sara and then shattered into many pieces of stone. The girl then twisted around just in time to take out one of her daggers and slash at Yuki, barely avoiding one of his fists and cutting him in the side.

Yuki growled, though it was a slightly pained growl and then threw another fist at her, which she ducked to dodge.

When she stood back up, she was holding a large battle hammer that she swung, batting Yuki away from her. Winter had promised if she gave it her all that she would get the best cake ever in existence and she wasn't going to back down. She wondered if the two that she was fighting against were getting tired. Judging by the fact that they both seemed to use a form of Slayer magic, she assumed that the battle still had a ways to go.

Sara stood shakily, her body glowing ever-so-slightly as she used her magic to heal herself some, though she didn't want to overexert herself, so she did not heal herself completely. "Yuki-kun, are you okay?" she called, noticing that Yuki was on the ground. She didn't know if she had enough magic to be able to heal him, too.

Yuki climbed to his feet, four fiery tails now completely formed behind him. His ears and fists were blazing and his lips were curled to show sharp canines. He moved faster now when he jolted towards Ikaros, growling. "I'm fine, Sara!" he called, realizing that he didn't respond to her right when he got to his feet. He threw fist after fist at Ikaros, distracting her while on his tails stretched forward and grabbed her so that he could land a direct hit on her chest and send her flying back, a scorched burn mark over her chest.

Ikaros slid back and winced at the pain of the burn. Gabe was going to be worried when he saw it. She wasn't going to give in, though. She used her Change Magic to equip dual blades that were held so that they curved around the outside of her forearm. She then bolted forward and started slashing at Yuki, working him into a corner, kneeing him in the abdomen, and hitting him multiple times with the blades, until he fell to his knees from being weakened by the hits.

She didn't let up on her attacks after that, either. She left Yuki on the ground and charged for Sara, who jumped over her to dodge.

Sara twisted in the air and her stomach and cheeks swelled as she called, "Sky God's Bellow!" and sent a blast of black wind at Ikaros, landing the attack on her and smiling.

Ikaros fell to the ground hard enough to damage the ground, but she got up anyway, her hair now partially falling down, a few wounds present on her legs. She exhaled lightly, trying to calm her pounding heart and attempt to forget about the pain that was starting to set in. She then recreated her gauntlets and just as Sara landed on the ground, she punched her with an uppercut, the spikes of her gauntlets cutting her jaw and the power of the punch sending her into the air.

Sara let out a pained cry and fell to the ground, unmoving for the time being.

Yuki stood, his eyes wide and ran over to her as Ikaros put distance between herself and the two, giving them time to recover if they could instead of hitting them when there were down. "Sara!" he called.

Sara attempted to sit up, only to find that she was in too much pain, between being punched and bashed with a hammer. She healed herself, just enough that she could sit up and then stand weakly. She was running low on magic, so she would have to be careful.

Yuki grinned when she got up. "Yeah, we can still fight!" he cheered.

"Yuki... Can you move away from me?" Sara asked, forgetting to use the telepathic connection.

Ikaros arched a brow and watched them for a second before her eyes narrowed and she summoned a staff with a curled end and shot forward.

Just as Sara began to take in the wind around them, she was bashed in the ribs with the staff that Ikaros was holding.

Yuki growled and pounced out her, but Ikaros was quick and spun around, holding the staff horizontally and shoving it into stomach in tossed him into the air, batting him away with the curved end of the staff.

Sara climbed to her feet and groaned in pain. She didn't give up, though. She surrounded her fist with a bit of wind and then punched Ikaros in the back. When the mage fell to the ground, she surrounded her foot with wind and kicked her, crushing her into the ground.

Ikaros pressed her hand to the ground, one of her eyes closed as she grimaced in pain. She then used her magic to make the ground underneath Sara shoot up as a giant column and crush her into the ceiling, making her cry out in pain.

When the ground below her disappeared, Sara fell to the ground and didn't move. Her bracelet was flashing red, and she wondered if that meant that they lost. She wanted to heal herself and get back up, but she just didn't have the magic to do it. She looked around to see Yuki not far away, running towards her, back in his normal form now.

"Sara!" he called, dropping to his knees and staring at her bracelet. "What's wrong with the thing on her wrist?" he asked, looking to Ikaros.

"She's almost out of magic," Ikaros responded, sitting up and wincing in pain again. "I think that means that you two have lost..." she said, smiling sympathetically.

"I'm... I'm sorry... Yuki-kun..." Sara mumbled, tears filling her eyes as she saw the barrier that had closed off the way that they came drop down while the other exit was sealed by a thick ice wall.

"It's okay," Yuki said, grinning at her. "We had a lot of fun, didn't we?" he said, laughing lightly. He then turned to Ikaros. "We'll beat you one day, you know, if you'll let us fight you again..."

"Sure," Ikaros said, returning Yuki's smile. She was glad that at least one of them didn't seem that upset that they failed the exam. "Can you walk out or do you need to be teleported out?" she asked, standing.

Yuki stood as well and scooped up Sara bridal style, grinning. "We'll walk out!" he said cheerfully.

"Thank you... For not being mad..." Sara mumbled as the tears in her eyes rolled down her cheeks.

"We'll always have another chance!" Yuki responded cheerfully as he followed Ikaros out of the cavern.

* * *

Meanwhile...

Stark had lost his interest in waiting, since it appeared that it was going to be a bit before his opponents arrived. He was a bit irritated that he couldn't have Terra with him because she was the voice of reason for him, but he would do good. Maybe he would prove to her that he could be mature and skillful without her. Then again, there wasn't much way that he was going to lose the battle. The walls and ceiling of the caverns were made of rock, so he could replenish himself whenever he needed. He kinda felt bad for whoever had to battle him because he was the first one of his generation to become S-class and he wasn't going to give up that title easily. He was going to give it his all, and he just didn't see someone beating him when they were surrounded by stone, apart from the orange crystals that lit the cavern and the dirt flooring.

"C'mon... Why would Winter make us wait in here? She knows that most of her S-class people are frickin' impatient," Stark said, standing up. He wanted to use his magic and play around a bit, but at the same time, he knew that he needed to save as much of his magic as he could just in case whoever he had to fight was strong enough to take him.

"Who do you think that we are gonna have to fight?" Hikari asked as she and Mistere walked down the narrow path that was beyond the entrance of the path that they had chosen.

"Are we even sure that we are going to have to fight them? Winter didn't say specifically that we would have to fight," Mistere asked, thinking back to Winter's words. It was a good assumption, but maybe it wasn't even safe to assume anything knowing the guild master.

"Oh, you know we're gonna be fighting one of the S-class wizards," Hikari said, rolling her eyes playfully. "You're smart enough to know that."

Mistere shrugged and nodded ahead of them when she noticed the orange glow that was coming from the cave up ahead.

They walked through the entrance, hearing the faint sound of magic when it sealed.

Stark grinned when he saw them. "Alight!" he said, already feeling himself getting pumped up. He knew that the two girls were fairly new to the guild, so he didn't know their magic well, but he could tell that they were tough. One of them even smelled like she may be a dragon slayer and he couldn't wait to see what he was going to be up against.

"So...We're up against you, huh?" Hikari asked, placing one hand on her hip. She could smell him. She could smell that he was a dragon slayer. This was going to be fun!

Mistere didn't know much about any of the S-class wizards, either, but she was looking forward to a battle so her eyes narrowed and a small smile spread across her face.

"Best of luck to the both of you! You're really going to need it if you're going up against me," Stark said, grinning. With that, he coated both of his fists with stone and shot forward. "Stone Dragon's Solid Fist!" he called, aiming at Hikari first.

Hikari dodged by ducking and Mistere brought her hands up, letting her wisps dance around her before circling Stark and locking around him, holding him in place for Hikari to attack.

"Way to go, Mistere-chan!" Hikari called, turning around, dirt swirling around her fist as she called, "Earth Dragon's Rugged Fist!" and punched Stark and in the ribs.

Mistere let her wisps go and Stark was thrown by the power of Hikari's punch, but before he could crash into the wall, the wisps scooped him up again, picked him up tossed him to the ground. If he was the stone dragon slayer, then it would be a good idea to keep him away from the walls. _"Hikari... Keep him away from the walls and ceiling... If he eats them, we might have a problem on our hands." _she spoke telepathically to her friend, even though she figured that she would able to catch on.

_"Gotcha!" _Hikari responded. The thought of Stark being able to eat most of the cavern hadn't really came to her mind yet and she found herself silently thanking Mistere for coming up with that dilemma. Smiling, she dashed forward, dirt swirling heavily around both of her arms. "Earth Dragon's Drills!" She cried as she threw both arms forward at Stark.

"Stone Dragon's Boulder Wall!" Stark called, turning one of his arms into a giant rock that he used as a shield against Hikari. Once he felt the pressure stop, he called out, "Stone Dragon's Hammer!" and turned the boulder into a giant hammer that was at the end of his arm. He swung it and attempted to bat it away, only to have Hikari grab onto it with one hand as dirt swirled around her arms to shape a pickaxe. "Earth Dragon's Pickaxe!" she called, swiping at Stark while still holding onto his arm.

Stark attempted to dodge, only to find that he couldn't move. He looked down to see wisps circling around his feet. Damn. He had forgotten about the other girl for the moment being because she wasn't as much of a close-combat fighter. He hadn't even touched her yet, either, and they had already landed a few hits on him. He winced when he was hit by the Earth Dragon Slayer and slid back. He stepped forward, thinking that he was going to get a chance to attack, but he was thrown forward into the center of the cavern by the wisps. That was when he realized what the girls were doing. They were keeping him away from stone. Damn. This was going to be a harder fight than he expected. He was getting pumped!

"We're not even getting started!" Hikari called. She hadn't even broken a sweat yet. This battle wasn't so hard. Besides, there was plenty of dirt under their feet if needed. Maybe she just needed to go ahead and finish this so that both of them would have magic left for the next trial. She smirked and her stomach swelled as she called out, "Earth God's Bellow!" black earth bursting from deep within her and rushing towards Stark.

Mistere smirked at this as well. Hikari wasn't holding back in this battle at all. She lifted her hands and let her wisps hold Stark in place again so that he couldn't move. Once the black earth hit him, the wisps burst into blue flames, burning him.

Stark scowled in pain and once the attack was done, he growled, his teeth growing into fangs and his body becoming coated stone scales emitting strong magic. "I'm not going to get done in this bad by a couple of little girls!" he growled. With that, his arm turned into a cannon. "Stone Dragon's Cannon!" he practically roared, shooting a series of large cannonballs that were hurled at the girls.

Mistere jumped into the air, using her wisps to hover there for a second until the attack was finished.

Hikari rolled away, staying on the ground. At the same time, she scooped up a handful of dirt and swallowed it, grinning as her own body became coated in sandpaper-like scales, her body also emitting a strong magic presence.

"I'll deal with you in a minute..." Stark said, his eyes on Hikari. At incredible speed, he shot into the air and snatched Mistere out of the air and crashed into the air with her, letting her go at the last second. He didn't let up, either. She was the one that was the problem at that moment. Without letting her get up, he called out, "Stone Dragon's Roar!" and blasted her at close range.

"You...!" Hikari snarled as she heard Mistere cry out in pain. The veins on her forehead swelled and with magic circles in front of her palms, she pressed her palms to the ground. "Secret Art: Earthen Burial!" she called.

Stark didn't have time to move before the earth around him shook and then shot up, engulfing him in a casing of solid earth. He attempted to move, but earth fused over his arms and legs, holding him in place as he was squeezed and contorted and ways that he wasn't meant to been. His eyes shut tightly and he scowled, his teeth grinding together. He wasn't the type to scream in pain. He wasn't going to. The earth began to fuse with the rest of his body, putting pressure on every part of him. What kind of technique was this? The pain was so much. He felt his head throbbing and just when he thought he was going to pass out, it ended. He fell to his knees when it was over and coughed, surprised when he saw no blood. He was in too much pain to think that it was an illusion technique.

"That was awesome, Hikari!" Mistere said. She was back on her feet. Her clothes were ripped up and her hair had fallen out of its ponytail, falling down her back and spreading out around her waist.

"It's not over, you know," Stark said, climbing to his feet. His scales were still there, so the bruises that covered his skin weren't visible at that moment, but Hikari knew they had to be there. "I have secret techniques, too..." he breathed. With that, he held his hands to the air and magical circles appeared everywhere.

Hikari and Mistere watched, not sure what to expect. They pressed their backs to each other and Hikari's magic swirled around them, ready to protect.

"Secret Art: Stonehenge!" Stark roared as giant stone pillars that scraped the ceiling arose from the ground and after a second, began to fall.

They were in a circle around the girls and after a moment of looking around, they both realized that there was no way to escape them. _"We gotta fight these things! If they fall on us, we're done for!" _Hikari spoke telepathically. With that, she made her fists into two drills once again, planning to catch a couple of the stones. Earth swirled around a few of the stones, encasing them in attempt to hold them up.

Mistere held her arms out and closed her eyes, trying to make the wisps hold the stones.

The two girls struggled with the stones for a few moments and Stark smirked at them. They weren't getting anywhere. This battle was going to be won by him, after all, it seemed.

_"This is gonna be bright..."_ Mistere spoke to Hikari. _"Be prepared..." _With that, a magic circle appeared under her, the huge amount of magic radiating from it lifting the blunette's hair. "Foreboding Sense!" she shouted. With that, the floor turned bright blue around the two girls and then shot out, spreading over the giant stones and then causing them to burst.

"What...?" Stark hissed, glaring at the two girls. This fight really was gonna be a good one that he'd remember for a long time, it seemed.

Mistere was panting after the attack, but she was still standing.

"That was freakin' awesome!" Hikari called, hugging her friend tightly. "I don't think I've seen that magic before!" she said.

"Takes a lot of energy..." Mistere breathed. She then turned to Stark. "We're going to claim the victory in this battle," she said, her eyes narrowed in determination. She had tried to hard and fought too much to lose this battle.

"She's right!" Hikari chimed in, grinning brightly.

"Heh. You two are definitely strong, I'll give you that!" Stark said, his eyes narrowed in determination. His arm turned into a hammer again and he ran forward, aiming for Mistere again.

Hikari's eyes narrowed and black earth began circling her leg as she stomped into the ground, screaming "Earth God's Quake!". The magic caused the ground to blacken, shaken and erupt around Stark, pummeling him with chunks of darkened dirt.

Stark was beaten for a moment before he swung his hammer and burst through the dirt, swinging for Hikari, since she was now closer than Mistere. However, just before his hammer crashed into the earth dragon slayer, he found himself caught by the wisps again and he let out a loud curse. Such an annoying magic! The wisps burst into flames and he scowled as he was burned.

At the same time, Hikari recreated the drills around her fists and punched through the flames with them, hitting him repeatedly as quickly as she could. He had to be almost down, and she wanted to end this before they got any lower on magic.

When the attacks were over, Stark fell to the ground. His body was singed and all of the drill punches from Hikari had ripped his poncho off, leaving him shreds of a shirt. When he hit the ground, his bracelet began flashing. "You...Two...Win..." he mumbled. There was no way that he was going to get back up after that. He had lost count of how many times the girl had hit him. He had seen them around, working with one other girl and sometimes the kid that Winter kept, and he had to admit, that they had as much synergy together as the duo did, they had to be an amazing team.

"Yay!" Hikari's face lit up and she watched as the path to the next area opened up and Stark teleported out of the cavern. "We were awesome, Mistere-chan!"

"Definitely," Mistere said, returning her bright smile. She was tired and they still had more to go. Hopefully their battle hadn't taken that long and they would have at least a few minutes to rest before the next trial. Sighing, she followed Hikari out of the cavern and onto the room of trial two.

* * *

**Author's Note: **So... That's a wrap for this chapter! Sorry if the results of the battles weren't to your liking. Once again, I'm going by randomized results, and plus it wouldn't be much of an exam if everyone won, right? Anyhow... Please be casting your votes or thinking about it, readers. c: You can PM me if you don't wanna let other people see your vote. Vote for 5-7 people. Any less, and I will ask you to re-vote. I will not be putting a poll up for the time being because I don't know if you can change your vote on a poll, and people who don't even read the story could randomly vote and mess things up. If you guys prefer a poll, I will do it that was, you enjoyed the long battles. These are so hard to write because I use words like "slammed" and "threw" too much and the language gets so frickin' frustrating. I try to edit it, though, when I do my editing and I use a thesaurus if I have to, so hopefully it doesn't get too bland/repetitive for you guys. Anyway, I talk too much. Leave a review if you want!

**Review Responces**

Thanks for reviewing as always, lots of love from me. c: Also, if you would rather see the voting for the GMGs as a poll, then say so. You won't be able to change your vote unless that's an option on Fanfiction, but if you would prefer that so that I won't know your vote, that's fine. c:

**shadowssj12 - **I know. I'm really happy about it. I hope you're not too upset about the results with Yuki and Sara and I hope it was at least a fun battle to read. I'm really sorry about it, but I'm continuing to go by my randomized results.

**Junior the Otaku - **That's the way it's supposed to be. Adrian likes children. c: It makes me really happy that enjoy the battle scenes that I write. There will be plenty more, what with the GMGs and the battle with Banshee Tear. Some people are going to lose, sadly. Even if they did make it past the first trial, Winter has already explained that only three teams will be allowed to make it past the second trial. I'm glad you like the Exceed scene. :)

**La Maitresse' Dame - **There will be failures in the exam; it's sometimes hard for me to write, too, but if no Silver Griffin mage ever failed, then this would be an overpowered guild, in a bad way. I try with visualization, especially when I proofread it. I wanna make manga pages out of this, so I've been doing lots of drawing practice. Don't know if it's gonna get me anywhere. T_T With the poll, I wasn't planning on doing a poll because any user can vote, and I don't think that you can change your vote, though I don't know that. If a lot of people want me to so that their vote will be completely confidential, I will, though. :) I'll probably ask again next chapter if people want me to do a poll instead, because my author's notes in this one are terribly long and I doubt people will even catch the question. XD

**Hiragami Kotone - **Your vote has been added to my notes. :) Depending on what people want, I may be doing it as a poll, and if so, I will ask you to vote on the poll when it's up.

**LilTimy - **I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and sorry you didn't get the lacrima meanings correct. I hope you enjoyed the battle with Ikaros in it and I hope I portrayed her serious side okay. :)

**Rin Ice Miyako - **Your vote has been added to my notes. :) If people decide that they would rather have a poll, then I may ask you to recast your vote on the poll. As of now, you are fine, though~

**Nicky Azure - **I'm really happy that you're looking forward to the updates. I hope I don't disappoint! c:

**LinkinParkTheKillersFan - **I'm really happy that you liked the chapter. I hope you continue to like the chapters. c:


	19. Chapter 18

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ In case you missed the question, I have a question. Would you guys prefer for me to do a poll for voting for the GMGs? I don't know that you would get to change your vote, and the voting could be messed up by random people voting, but it would be a poll and it would be completely confidential, even from me, and some of you might like that more. Just a note, if you wanna just PM me your vote if I don't get enough requests to make the poll, I will not hate you or show any opinions on who you vote for. I will simply thank you tell you your vote has been placed in my notes, which only I see. If you have an OC in the story, I will expect you to vote for them, but if you don't, then that's okay, too. I don't care if you don't vote for my OCs, either.

The idea of Ikaros being lured to be strong with cake in the last chapter was LilTimy's idea. Forgot to include that, sorry. X_X

**IMPORTANT-ISH NOTE ON VOTING:**

**Yes, some of the characters will not feel comfortable with being a part of the games, such as Ice not liking people, Kimi's fear of facing Natsu, or Gwen's lack self-confidence, but Winter will be forcing those that are voted for to participate, so don't worry about that. Just a bit of a note, because while the characters' personalities will affect the flow of things (i.e. if one off the over-confident characters get voted for, I'll most likely make them face one of the over-confident canon characters so that it will be a battle of arrogance. Quiet characters like Ice would have more of a chance of getting pitted against someone like Kagura, Erza or maybe Lucy), they will not be able to refuse to be a part of the team if the voting causes Winter to choose them. :)**

Blargh... If you guys read author's notes, then you know the drill. Remember the warning a couple of chapters back. The results of the trials are randomized, even being good for the team and odd being bad for the team. If a team loses at any point, that means they got an odd number on a scale from 1 to 100. :)

* * *

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Back at the camp...

All of the mages who had arrived were now bandaged up and resting. Nezuko and Sara had both dozed off. Eira sat silently on her bed, Yuki wondered around aimlessly, Stark was on his bedroll, sitting next to Eira, who he seemed to be worrying about, and Ikaros was sitting near the pond beside Winter.

"Eira... Somethin' bothering you?" Stark asked, looking over at the blonde, who was staring at the ground, sadness in her eyes. Stark was fairly close to Eira, even though they didn't go on missions together or anything of that sort. Eira was sort of like Terra in the fact that she was serious and a lot of time ended up being his voice of reason. He liked girls like that and so he found himself wanting to be around her a lot. She never told him to go away, so he always figured that it was okay, too.

Eira looked over at him and shook her head gently. While Stark was one of the few people that she trusted, she didn't want to put her problems off on him; she didn't like the thought of him worrying about her.

Stark's eyes narrowed to show that he was not amused by her bluntly lying to him. If he knew her well, he knew that she wasn't the type to get completely worked up over losing a battle. He didn't think that any of the mages would get that worked up over it because it wasn't the only chance that they had to become an S-class. "You know, we can get away from the camp and talk or something, if you'd like," he said, standing, his body shaking just a bit. His scales were gone now, and most of his body was bruised. He was shirtless with most of his abdomen wrapped due to the amount of wounds that Hikari had inflicted on him. The bruises on his arms were attention-grabbing, though. Or, they would have been if most of the people around weren't in equally bad condition. Crystal, Adrian and Cantrelle were really having their work cut out for them as people emerged from the caves, bruised and bloody.

Eira wanted to deny him again, but Stark was stubborn, if he wasn't anything else. She knew that he wouldn't leave her alone until she spoke with him about what was on her mind. So, she stood, her body screaming at her not to move since she was in pain. Apart from a few minor lacerations, she didn't have wounds that bled, but she had a few bruises on her body, especially her back, that were nearly black in color.

Together, the two mages walked around the pond and away from the camp enough that they wouldn't be heard by any of the other mages. "So... What's going on? I've noticed that you've looked sad for awhile now, but I never got the chance to speak with you because the exams were announced and we both stayed busy with training most of the time," Stark started.

Eira sat down in front of the pond and pulled her knees to her chest, letting out a sigh. "Have I ever told you the reason why I joined the guild?" she asked. She was determined not to cry this time. She wasn't going to. When Stark shook his head, she let out another sigh. "I have a twin brother named Alec, and he disappeared before I joined the guild. For the longest time, I did not really feel him around or even find any leads on him, but recently, within the past few months, really, I have been... Feeling his presence in Nadeshiko, specifically around the guild..." she could feel the tears in her eyes and she bit her lip in attempt to make them stop.

Stark noticed the glossy tears before she could stop them, though, and he sat down and very gently wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. "I'm sure he's around, then..." he said in a soft tone. Normally, he wasn't really a calm person, but he was going to be at that moment, for Eira.

"I have asked Winter and Gwendolyn and both of them said that they have found no traces of his magic and no one else seems to feel it..." Eira said, tears starting to roll down her cheeks. "...What if I'm just losing it...?"

"You and I both know that you're not losing it," Stark said, gently rubbing her shoulder. "Maybe he has something that masks his magic and he's purposely unmasking it around you or something so that you'll know that he's still alive," he said.

"...Maybe..." Eira mumbled. "I also messed up. Nezuko and I lost because we didn't train enough... I haven't even told her what's been bothering me, but I know she's probably annoyed with me, because she got injured pretty badly..."

"She'll forgive you," Stark said. "Friendship isn't just broken from one event most of the time..." he added. He hesitated before finally saying, "It might be best for you to at least tell her what's going on, though... It's probably upsetting her that he won't tell her anything..."

"I will," Eira said, wiping the tears from her face. She was going to talk to Nezuko when she woke up and was feeling better. She then sighed and blushed a bit as she said, "Thank you, Stark... You have helped me feel a bit better..."

"No problem," Stark responded, grinning at her.

* * *

Meanwhile...

Much like many of the S-class mages who were waiting for their challenge, Azura was getting impatient. She had started using New Moon as a baton, tossing it into the air and catching it repeatedly. She was pacing back and forth in her cavern, which was lit with jade colored crystals, giving it a green glow. It was quite pretty in her opinion and she wondered whose idea it was to light up each cavern a different color to represent the S-class mage that was in it.

Realizing that it was going to be awhile before she got to face her opponent, she started to think. She wondered how her three team members were doing. She knew that Monk and Coyote were paired together and as such, she figured that they were doing fine, but she wondered how Fame was doing. From what she had seen of him, he was getting along just fine with Gabe, which was weird because it was rare that he actually got along with someone. Then again, with Monk and Coyote, they may not be doing too well either, considering how much they argued. She let out a snort of laughter just thinking about all the three males were doing at the moment. Maybe they were kicking ass, if nothing else.

After she thought about that, she began to think about the Grand Magic Games again. They were a little less than half a year away and she had talked with Winter a couple of times about them. Winter had decided that she was about eighty percent certain that Silver Griffin would be registering for them, but she wasn't sure who she was going to pick for their team. The S-class exams was supposed to be one of the two opportunities that they would be given to hone their skills. She wasn't going to announce to the guild that they would be participating for a while because she didn't want a bunch of the mages scooping up missions and trying too hard to impress her. While she thought it would be really fun to participate, she knew her grandmother well enough to know that trying to impress her suck up wasn't going to get her anywhere, so she would just go about her business. Even if she didn't get on the team, she would still have the chance to see him again, and that made her happy, even though he wouldn't remember her.

"I can't wait for this battle! I'm so frickin' fired up!" Lillay said, throwing her fists into the air as she and Emery walked down the path that they had chosen.

"You're an Ice Dragon Slayer, shouldn't you say something other than 'fired up'?" Emery asked, hating herself for the terrible pun. She said what was on her mind, though, and that was the first thing that crossed her mind when she heard Lillay's words.

Lillay glared. "You're terrible," she said. "That was terrible," she added, frowning deeply. She didn't like puns. Then again, who did?

"Are you not scared about facing your boyfriend?" Emery asked, crossing her arms over her chest as they walked. She was pretty sure she could see the faint glow of light up ahead.

Lillay blushed. "We're not, like, officially dating, you know..." she said in small, timid voice that was completely different from her normal voice. "I mean... We go out sometimes... But we've been training for the last two months so I haven't gotten to talk to him too much..." With that, she seemed to trail into her own little world.

Emey's eyes drooped with annoyance as she realized that she didn't even get an answer to her question. She didn't bother to snap the other girl out of her thoughts. She wondered how people became love-struck like that. She couldn't even recall a time when she was attracted to a guy and she couldn't imagine herself being love-struck.

Azura was so deep into her thoughts that she barely even heard the faint sound that the barrier coming up made. She was pacing and she stopped when she saw the two girls across the cavern from her. A smirk spread across her face. "I was really hoping for some guys to beat down, but I guess you two work, too," she said, pulling Full Moon off of her back so that she had both of the katanas in her hands. She was going to go all out. She liked being an S-class wizard and she had no intentions of losing her title.

Emery only recognized Azura as one of the trouble making guild members who hung out with a trio of rowdy guys. She didn't really know much about her magic. It didn't matter, though; she had managed to get two of the spells that Adrian knew down, so she felt as if she was on a whole different level than she was two months ago.

Lillay didn't know much about any of the mages in the guild, since she had been a member of the guild for less than a year, but she was ready for a nice fight. Almost instantly, her shorts came off and were thrown to the side, which made Azura's eye twitch.

"If you don't know her, you get used to it after a bit," Emery said, no longer phased by Lillay's stripping. She ran her hand down the buttons of her pea coat and threw it off to the side, not really liking the idea of ruining it, if she could avoid it.

"Do you both strip?!" Azura asked, a bit baffled. Then again, didn't he strip, too? Why did it bother her? Maybe because it reminded her of him.

"I don't strip, you stupid bitch!" Emery snapped, offended.

"Nothin' wrong with strippin'!" Lillay snapped, but then realized that what she said sounded awful and blushed. "Erm... Well... As long as you have some clothes on," she mumbled under her breath.

Azura laughed. "Let's stop with the bickering and get this show on the road, eh?" she said, throwing her swords into the air and then catching them.

"Fine!" Lillay said, smirking, the blush on her face disappearing. Freezing air surrounded her fists, coating them with a thin layer of ice. The ice continued to coat over until her fist was surrounded with thick ice in the shape of a spike. She shot forward yelling "Ice Dragon's Iceberg!"

Azura was going to jump, but when she attempted to, she ended up nearly falling forward, her arms flailing. She looked down to see that there was a root wrapped around one of her ankles. She looked to Emery, who had her hands on the ground. "Excellent," she huffed under her breath, grinning deviously. She held New Moon forward and blocked Lillay's attack with it, absorbing her ice. She then used the blade to cut the root away from her ankle, not dispelling any of the magic that was in as she did so. To get Lillay off her back, she hit her with the hilt of Full Moon and then dashed forward and shot out a series of ice spikes at Emery.

Lillay winced and stumbled forward, a bit thrown off by the series of events.

Emery rolled away to dodge the attacks from Azura, only to realize that the ground around her was freezing. One of the spikes landed in front of her and shattered to freeze the ground and before she could stop running, she found herself slipping on the ice, landing on her back. She hated ice. Groaning, she reached past the ice and pressed her palm to the ground, a red magic circle appearing under it. "Garnet Engulfment!" she called out, hoping that the spell would work, since it was one of Adrian's spells, which were all insanely difficult for her, much to her displeasure.

Azura's eyes dropped to the ground when the red magic circle appeared under her feet. She grimaced and then jumped into the air, trying to avoid whatever spell was about to hit her. She narrowly avoided a giant rose that instantly bloomed, its crimson petals wrapping around nothing. She wanted to absorb it to use it, but she didn't have time as Lillay's fist slammed into her jaw and she heard the ice dragon slayer shouting, "Ice Dragon's Crystal Fist!". She let out a small grunt as she fell back, her face swelling and throbbing. "Damn, you!" she cursed, bolting forward with both of her blades readied.

Lillay flipped back nimbly, still in the air. The magic that was coming from her was strong enough to freeze anything around her. "Ice Dragon's Glacier!" she cried out as Azura neared her, creating a giant wall of ice that Azura managed to slice through with her blades. She jumped back again, letting her stomach swell as she prepared to roar.

Azura smirked, deciding now was the time show off her own capabilities. She jumped back, too, putting her blades away. Her stomach swelled as a dark blue magic circle danced in front of her face and she brought her hands up. "Lunar Dragon's Roar!" she bellowed.

"Ice Dragon's Roar!" Lillay screamed at the same time.

Emery watched, finally climbing to her feet as a blast of ice crystals and snow collided with a dark blue wave of magic that resembled stars. The two blasts instantly cancelled each other out, filling the air with dark purple, frozen stars. It was breathtaking, but it wasn't the time to get distracted by pretty magic. She wanted to catch Azura off-guard so she brought her palms to the ground and sent a wave of roots rushing towards her.

Azura didn't have time to even comprehend what had happened when the two roars collided before she was entangled in roots that pulled her down, causing her to crash into the ground and let out a cough as the air was knocked from her lungs. "Dammit..." she cursed under her breath as the roots sunk into the ground, squeezing her.

"Hah!" Lillay grinned and leaped into the air, coating her leg with ice as she aimed for the incapacitated Azura. "Ice Dragon's Spike!" she called as she drop-kicked Azura, the ice that coated her leg shattering and cutting into Azura's back, causing her to growl in pain.

Azura let out another growl as her skin became tinted dark blue with star-like sparkles for scales. Energy blasted from her body as she entered Dragon Force, her pupils becoming mere slits and her teeth growing in fangs. This was the last remnant of her father and though it brought back memories that she would never be able relive, she was determined to show that she truly deserved to be an S-class mage of Silver Griffin.

Lillay let out a surprised yelp as she was blasted into the air by the pressure from Azura's Dragon Force.. She was even more surprised as she landed in a soft bed of flowers that seemed to replenish her magic upon contact. Emery's work, no doubt.

Azura stood, her black locks floating behind her now. "I told Obaachan that I wouldn't be holding back," she said grinning.

"Okay, that's all good," Lillay said. With that, ice magic burst from her body and white, icy scales began to coat her body as she entered her own Dragon Force. She had plenty of magic thanks to Emery.

Emery found herself wondering what she could do to be useful, since it seemed to be turning to be a battle of dragon slayers. She didn't compare to a dragon slayer in Dragon Force. So, she sat down and let her body emit a pure green magic, making flowers take over the cavern, sending magic to Lillay to keep her magic up.

Lillay could feel the magic flowing into her and she looked over at Emery to see that she looked as if she was meditating almost. _"Playing support?" _Lillay asked telepathically.

_"Better than getting in the way of two dragon slayers," _Emery responded.

Lillay smirked and dashed forward at an astonishing speed, throwing an icy punch at Azura, who had also shot forward to meet her in the middle of the cavern.

Azura dodged with relative ease and then kicked her with a starry leg, knocking her off to the side.

Lillay bounced back, calling out "Ice Dragon's Spear!" she called, shooting a long rod of ice from her hand.

Azura dodged, moving off to the side in the blink of an eye. She then held her arms out as she ran. " Lunar Dragon's Wing Attack!" she called, sending out blasts of lunar magic from her back at such a speed that Lillay did not have time to dodge.

Lillay screamed as she was blasted back by the magic, crashing into the wall and being pelted with chunks of stone that fell down on her. She slid down the wall and groaned, climbing back to her feet.

Azura was rushing towards her again, but Emery had Lillay's back, her hands on the ground as roots caught Azura. "Jade Entanglement!" she called as the roots began to glow green and wrap themselves around her again and again. _"Lillay, get her! Don't worry about my magic, just destroy it!" _Emery spoke telepathically.

Lilla nodded and in an instant, she was in front of Azura, punching her repeatedly until the roots broke away, when Azura bounced back.

As soon as she could move an arm, Azura coated her fist with lunar magic and punched Lillay in the face, knocking her back. She then pulled out her katanas and absorbed the ice magic that Lillay's punches had left behind. After kicking Lillay in the abdomen to put some more distance between herself and the ice dragon slayer, she used Full Moon too shoot out a blast of ice at Emery.

Emery hopped up and dodged, but that was what Azura wanted. The nature mage's eyes widened when Azura was in front of her, slashing her in the side with an ice-coated Full Moon and then calling out "Lunar Dragon's Claw" as she kicked her in the other side with a lunar kick, blasting her into Lillay, who was just recovering.

Emery cried in pain and rolled off of her friend, holding the side that had been slashed as blood covered her hand. She was on her knees with her free hand holding her up as she panted.

"Oww..." Lillay groaned, rolling over to sit up on her knees. She had lost her Dragon Force because she was starting to get low on magic. Still, she looked towards Azura to see her smirking triumphantly. "You haven't won yet, you know!" she called, standing and panting. "Emery, you can get up, right?"

Emery stood, her body shaking. There was a huge gash in her side and even though it wasn't visible, there were bruises all over her other side. She grabbed Lillay's hand, ignoring the girl's confused look. Flowers began to bloom all over Lillay, restoring her magic while draining some of Emery's. Once the spell was done, Emery fell to her knees. "I'm sorry... But with this wound, I'm of no use. If I lose too much blood, it'll be over. I'm gonna be still. I've give you all the magic I can without being in danger. Just get her..."

"Right!" Lillay nodded, her eyes narrowing as the tiny, withering flowers fell from her body. She growled and coated both of her hands and feet with ice before running foward, throwing a fist at Azura. They were going to win this! She was determined!

Azura laughed and dodged the punch, grabbing Lillay's shoulder and jumping around so that she was behind her. She then boosted off of her back with lunar magic-covered feet that sent her crashing to the ground.

Lillay cried in pain, but didn't let her mind get distracted by the pain. She rolled out of the way just in time to avoid Azura's sword and then sprung to her feet, attempting to roundhouse kick Azura.

Azura was in much better health at that moment, though, and she turned and slashed Lillay's leg with one of her katanas. Within the blink of an eye, she was beside Lillay, punching her in the face again and sending her the ground. With that, she turned and her cheeks puffed as she called "Lunar Dragon's Roar!" and shot out a blast of magic at Emery, who was too weak to dodge. After that, she stood in the middle of the cave, wanting to see if either of them were strong enough to get up.

Emery had been blasted back by the roar and she slid down the wall and held her wound, noticing that her bracelet was flashing. She looked past Azura to Lillay, who was struggling to her feet. Her bracelet was flashing, too. "Gotta...At least... Get... Up..." She hissed to herself, struggling to her feet, falling to one knee on the first two attempts.

By their third attempt, they were both on their feet. Lillay was badly bruised and her face was so swollen that she could no longer see out of her right eye. She could feel the blood running down her leg. Her head was spinning and what vision she had left was blurry. She attempted to step forward, but it was too much. The last image in her head was Emery falling as well before she hit the ground and passed out.

* * *

Meanwhile...

Danny wasn't quite as impatient as the others. He was sitting against the wall, thinking about Lillay, as he found himself doing quite often. Not that he was embarrassed of it. He was worried about her at first, but then he realized that even if she did end up losing or getting injured, there were people at the camp that would help her feel better. Besides, he knew that she was strong, so he had faith in her to bounce back even if she did end up losing. Now, he was thinking about sewing her something with his magic, but he felt a bit awkward about it. One, she didn't really wear much clothing anymore and two, a lot of people found sewing to be a little girly. He chewed his lip for a moment before pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind. He was pretty sure that his opponents would show soon enough and he didn't want to be sitting down when they arrived.

"Gwen... Damsel... Your nerves... They're radiating from you," Leo said in a soft voice as he and Gwen walked down a narrow pathway. Gwen was fidgety and humming lightly to herself as if trying to calm herself down. "I'm you're partner... I'll protect you... And if we lose... I'm not gonna be mad at all..."

"I'm... I'm scared... Though... I... I don't want you to get hurt because of my... Weaknesses," Gwen said, hugging herself. She felt the scar that was on her side and remembered having to be protected by Ice a few months back. Wasn't she always playing the damsel in distress? Maybe Leo's nickname for women really did suit her.

"Don't be worried. A few scrapes aren't gonna be nothin' for me," Leo said, grinning at her. "Don't be scared. Winter wouldn't have selected you without knowing how awesome you are!"

Gwen blushed and smiled at him. "...We'll see..." she said in a small voice.

With that, they walked into a room that was lit with crystals that looked like fire. Before Gwen noticed Danny standing across the way, she thought about which of the S-class wizards used fire magic, realizing that none of them did.

"What's up?" Danny asked, smiling kindly at the two that entered the room. He instantly felt his stomach sink. The girl looked like a scared little child and he had hoped that he would have a tougher opponent. He had to try his best, though, right? He didn't want to. She looked pitiful in his opinion. He didn't want to lose his standing as S-class. He owed it to Winter to help the guild as much as he could and we only be able to perform at his full potential if he was an S-class. "I'm Danny and I won't be going easy on either of you because my title is at stake," he said, his eyes narrowing as he pulled both of his lances from his back. "Now... Dance!" he called as he threw them into the air and let them burst into hundreds of needles that rained down.

"Technician Barrier!" Gwen acted fast when she saw the surprise in Leo's eyes, making a barrier over their head to protect them, her legs shaking with fear as the sharp little objects bounced off of her magic. She noticed that they seemed to be glowing with her magic as well, which was not an occurrence that had happened before. Curiously, she reached threw the barrier and caught one of the needles, taking it and analyzing it, absorbing as much knowledge about Danny's magic as she could. _"Leo... Erm... I'm gonna upload the data on his magic into your mind so that you'll know what to expect... Erm... If that's okay," _She spoke telepathically, her fingers moving skillfully across the keyboard to her screen.

_"Of course!" _Leo responded, trying to comprehend all of the words and pictures that flowed quickly across the screen. They were moving too fast for him to read. He felt a pinging in his head and suddenly, he was thinking about a magic called Stitch Magic, which could allow the user to fight with needles, as well as absorb the magic of other mages to allow the user to create stitched items from the magic that they absorbed. His eye twitched at the fact that the voice in his head that was making him think this was so robotic and proper. It was odd to him.

Danny arched a brow, wondering what was going on. He saw the female using a screen that looked like Archive magic and he noticed that his needles were being blocked, so he held up his hands and made the needles revert to their old form, holding them. When he saw the barrier fall, he dashed forward and threw one of his needles, aiming for the female, since she seemed to be the weaker of the two. He just wanted this to be over; he did not like fighting his guild mates, especially when there was a good chance that he was stronger than them.

Gwen barely even saw the lance flying her way because Leo acted, turning his book into his broadsword and blocking the needle, causing everyone in the room to wince at the loud sound of metal clashing and scraping up against metal.

Danny pulled his lance back. "Stitch Magic: Resistance!" he called as both of his lances danced around him, glowing threads covering his body.

"And... He's making armor resistant to my magic..." Leo hissed, his sword starting to glow blue. "Sword Art: Pure Crescent!" he called, slashing the air in front of him and sending out a blast of magic at Danny in attempt to stop him from making his armor.

It was too late, though. Danny's "armor" which consisted of a bright blue robe that was the color of Leo's magic, was made, but not in time for him to dodge the attack. Though it only caused the Stitch mage to slide back due to the resistance from it, that was enough to due damage as a series of Technician Mines set off behind him, causing him to yelp in pain and fall to his knees. Was this the girl's magic?

"Awesome!" Leo said, grinning back at Gwen, who didn't even seem to be concentrating on the battle, but instead on her screen. Leo couldn't see much, but it looked like she had some kind of map pulled up and was placing little dots all over the map.

Danny climbed to his feet. "Stitch Magic: Resistance!" he called again, letting his needles dance around him.

There was a pinging in Leo's head and a robotic voice informed him that it didn't appear that their opponent was able to attack when he was making armor. He smirked and dashed forward, swinging his sword and knocking Danny away from his needles and into a wall, where more mines exploded. However, Leo didn't realize that the lances didn't follow Danny, and before he could dodge, both of the needles were crashing into him, knocking him back into Gwen, who let out a surprised squeal and fell from Leo's weight.

"Ghh," Leo quickly rolled off of Gwen and turned to her. "Are you okay, Damsel?" he asked.

Gwen sat up and smiled. "Yeah... I wasn't paying much mind to the battle... I'm sorry..." she said, blushing.

"It's all good," Leo said, climbing to his feet and taking her hand to pull her up, his other hand still occupied by his sword. He then sent a surge of sparks through Gwen so that she would be able to be combat ready.

Gwen absorbed the sparks, digital magic emitting from her for a short amount of time. "Technician's Cannon!" she called, summoning up the bazooka like weapon.

Leo grinned and threw his hand forward, shouting, "Storm Wolf: Crescent Crunch!". The crescent that came from his magic looked like the one that he had shot out with his sword earlier, but it was electrified and as it traveled, it took on the shape of a snarling wolf's head.

Danny was just recovering from another blast from Gwen's mines, but he managed to grab one of his lances and block the wolf just in time to see it bite down on the lance and then become absorbed by it. "Stitch Magic: Weapon-Make!" he said, throwing the lance into the air. Quickly, almost instantly, it made a stitched lance that was electrified.

Gwen noticed and it made her antsy. She did not want to be overloaded, and he could do it, if he wanted to.

_"Calm down... He'll notice you acting like that and target you!" _Leo spoke telepathically, his voice remaining soft, but with a firmer tone than usual, when he could feel Gwen's nerves flare up again. Her weaknesses weren't that obvious, but her nerves made them be.

_"S-Sorry..." _Gwen mumbled, realizing how stupid she had to be to not think of the that. She realized that it was too late when Danny charged forward, his regular lances floating above him, attached by a rope, and the electrical lance in his hand.

Leo let out a small grunt, realizing that it was too late as well. "Sword Art: Twin Blades!" he called, splitting his sword into two so that it would be easier to counter Danny. He wasn't worried about the one that was filled with his magic, because it wouldn't hurt that much. He blocked Danny and used both of his swords to block the lances. He dodged the third lance by sliding to the side and then placed the hilt of one of his swords in his mouth and covered his hand with electricity, shoving his palm into Danny's stomach, using a partial Spark Blow.

Thanks to the resistant clothe, Danny was barely even affected by the attack and he called, "Stitch Magic: Design!" in order to make his lances start weaving a series of ropes around Leo.

Leo slashed at the magic that surrounded him, only to find that it didn't really work well. Soon, he found his arms tied to his sides and his legs tied together. He attempted to cause a a spark to destroy the ropes, only to see that when the magic was finished, it was made out of the same bright blue clothe as Danny's robe. "Dammit.." he hissed.

At the same time, Danny charged for Gwen.

Gwen jumped back and shot the cannon at him, frowning when a lance blocked it and absorbed it. Danny was quicker than her, too, so her dodging only went so far. She attempted to hop into the air, but it didn't work. One of the ropes from the lances wrapped around her ankle and before she could fall. Danny stabbed the magical lance straight through her, though the nature of it caused it not actually create a wound, but to instead burn her stomach and back.

Gwen let out a screech of pain and fell to the ground, writhing as she began to overload, sending out a digital mess of magic in every direction and destroying the ground around her. Her back arched as she shocked herself over and and over again. A screen appeared above her with a red X and "WARNING" written in bright red letters. _"Leo..Move..."_ she whimpered telepathically, wanting him to get out of the way. She was going to make it through this without passing out; she didn't want to be the one that caused them to lose, but she knew what was coming next.

Danny had long since released his magic on Leo and was staring in horror, wondering what was going on. Leo didn't put distance in between them, though and instead ran over to her. "Gwen!" he called, just before she sent out a bright burst of magic that locked around Danny and Leo and began to shock them. He grimaced, but didn't make a sound, not wanting Gwen to know that he was in pain.

Danny fell to his knees and let out a grunt of pain. "...What's wrong with... Her?" he growled out.

Before Leo could respond, it stopped and Gwen let out a whimper. He fell forward and crawled over to her, surprised that she was awake. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face was tear-stained. Her breathing was erratic due to the pain that she was in. "Hey..." his voice was soft as he spoke to her, grabbing one of her hands.

"I'm... I'm... Okay," she said in a small voice. "We... We can still win... If you... Fight..." she added, smiling sheepishly.

"I'm fine with quitting..." Leo said, returning the smile, glad that she could even talk.

"I can forfeit if you want," Danny said softly. He felt awful to the point of feeling sick. He was NOT going to participate in this next year, even if he did lose his title. He wasn't cut out for testing his guild mates.

"No... I know you want to win... And I have enough magic to stay in the fight..." Gwen mumbled. "...And I don't want you to lose your title, Danny..." When Leo didn't respond, she resulted in one final word "...Please?"

Leo frowned and turned to Danny. "Let's finish this?" he said, standing after planting a kiss on Gwen's hand.

"I guess..." Danny said, jumping and flipping back to put distance in between himself and Leo. His electric lance was gone, but he had his other two in his hands.

Leo wanted to finish this fast. So, a light blue magic circle appeared under him and he cried, "Mystic Wolf: Werewolf!" before he began to transform into a lycanthrope, becoming a dark wolf-like creature that stood on two feet. He snarled at Danny, who seemed to be just a bit taken aback by the magic. With that, he shot forward and slashed at Danny, he barely managed to block with his lance. Leo kept up with the attacks, repeatedly slashing at Danny with large, intimidating claws.

Danny continued to block until he started becoming tired and one of the lances was knocked from his hands. Before he had time to make it levitate, Leo slashed him in the side, cutting through his clothing and causing four wounds.

Leo then kicked him so that he stumbled and continued to slash at him until his bracelet began to flash, which caught his attention. He stepped back as Danny fell to the ground, his lances magically returning to his back. Leo returned to his human form and breathed heavily, staring at the bracelet.

"...You win..." Danny breathed. "I'm... I'm really sorry for the damage that I caused.. I hope... She's okay..." he added before he teleported.

Leo blinked and then turned to Gwen, who had somehow managed to get herself against the wall and was sitting up. He walked over to her and smiled. "I won for you... Since you insisted," he breathed, the smile turning to a grin.

Gwen returned the grin with a sweet smile.

"Can you walk?" Leo asked, extending a hand to her.

Gwen took the hand, but when she stood, she stumbled and whimpered as pain flooded through her body, particularly her head. "No..." she cried lightly under her breath. The headache wasn't part of her overload. It was too bad to be. She couldn't be getting sick before trial two even started.

"What is it?" Leo asked, worry flashing across his face as he held her up, feeling as her body trembled.

"I... I'm okay," she said, forcing a smile. She didn't want him to know. Then he'd definitely quit the exam. She would just push on, somehow.

"I'll carry you," Leo said, not convinced by her fake smile at all. Either way, he wasn't going to pry, for now. He crouched so that she could get on his back.

Gwen complied, trying her best to fight the spinning of the world and the sick feeling in her stomach.

* * *

**Author's Note: **This chapter... Is... Long... I'm so sorry. X_X The part at the top turned out long, and then the battles were long, and then... o_o Two more battles left in trial one! They will be next chapter. :) So, look forward to it, maybe? :D Anyway, thanks for reading and leave a review if you want! :) I've got some stuffs to do tomorrow, but I'll try my hardest to put a chapter out. :) It really depends on me. Some of the battles, I get writer's block for. Oh, don't forget to vote if you're ready. You'll have seen all of the characters apart from Adrian in a serious battle after next chapter.

**Review Responses **

Thank you all for the reviews, as always! Over 150 reviews! Yay! Maybe I'll get to 250 by the end? That'd be the most reviews I've had on a story ever. :D

**LinkinParkTheKillersFan - **I'm glad you're enjoying the chapters so much! It makes me happy. :)

**Junior the Otaku - **It's fine~ Take your time with voting. I'll be giving a good, few chapter notice when I'm about to close votes, so you have plenty of time. I'm happy that you enjoyed the battles. I feel bad with making characters lose the exams sometimes, but I thought the arc would fun. ; n ; I'll feel the same way in the GMGs and the battle with Banshee Tear, though. X_X

**La Maitresse' Dame - **Hehe. I'm glad you like him~ A few lose the first trial, and it's not the second trial. Winter will sum up what happened in the first trial in the chapter after next, so you don't have to keep up with who is losing and winning in your head or anything. :) I'm really sorry for confusing you. X_X

**LilTimy - **I'm happy that I did okay with Ikaros! And I'm sorry I forgot to credit you for the idea. X_X I did in this chapter. I'm happy that you enjoyed the battles. :D

**Hiragami Kotone - **I'm really happy that you enjoyed the battles~ I will try to continue to impress~ c:

**Nicky Azure - **I'm glad you enjoyed the battles. I hope I portrayed a battle-ready Azura correctly. I think this is the first serious fight she's been shown in. :)

**shadowssj12 - **I'm happy that you're not that you're not completely bummed out that they lost. I hate making the characters lose and it makes me feel bad... I'll probably feel the same way in the GMGs and the battle with Banshee Tear... X_X

**FairyTail6 - **With voting for the GMGs, just vote for the 5-7 that you really enjoy seeing fight the most, regardless of personality. They'll be forced to participate no matter what if they get the most votes. :) I'm happy that you're enjoying the chapters and Kai and Marionette will appear in the next chapter, so look forward to that. :D


	20. Chapter 19

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ Last chapter of trial 1. I will not be including an "At the Camp" scene at the beginning of this one and instead will be including it at the end, if the chapter isn't too long already. It just depends... Some battles turn out longer than others.

Anyway, remember my note about how everything is randomized, and think about voting if you haven't already voted for the GMGs team.

*****REGARDING BANSHEE TEAR OCs*****

**Heeeeyy... Some lazy author finally finished making the enemy guild's master and such and the guild's backstory, which sucks and is extremely cliche. But whatever, it's a guild and I've already gotten some OC submissions, but if you want to submit them, I'd love for you to go ahead and think about that. You don't have to include much for history, just why they would join a dark guild, pretty much.**

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Meanwhile...

Ice wasn't really the type to lose her patience and she had been standing in her cavern, which was lit by pure white crystals, which she assumed was a way of representing her as the magic dragon slayer, since simple magic was pure and white was as well. She wasn't comfortable with not having Cross nearby and even though she was pretty sure that she could probably communicate with her, she wasn't going to as she would respect Winter's wishes not to have her Exceed with her in any way.

She didn't really think about much when she was waiting. She looked forward to a good fight and she hoped that she didn't get guild members that were afraid of her because she wanted them to at least try to fight. She had removed one of the seals on her magic, just as she had with training, just to prove that she was going to be all out. She wouldn't kill the mages that she had to fight, but she wanted to show them that they had a long way to go before becoming S-class.

"Are you worried at all?" Gabe asked Fame as they walked. He felt a bit worried about who they were going to have to face. Of course he really didn't want to face Ikaros, but he was just generally worried, too. He thought it would be fun to face Stark because Stark and Fame didn't get along and it would make Fame ready for battle, but he wasn't going to hope for that, either.

"Nah..." Fame said, flipping his hair. "We're pretty damn strong, so we've got this," he said. He was being truthful. He felt as if they would be able to take on whoever they had to face. He and Gabe had a pretty great combo down and on top of that Gabe could copy some of the magic of their opponent, providing that it wasn't someone who could absorb their own magic.

The two walked through the entrance and into the room with Ice, who spared them no introduction and already had her scythe in hand. She shot forward, kicked Gabe to the side, scooped Fame up with her scythe and threw him into the wall.

Gabe wasn't ready for the attack, but he recover swiftly and magic circles spinning around him as he used his copycat magic to copy her scythe for now, pulling it out of one of the circles.

Fame let out a small grunt, but as he was thrown, he spun in air so that the launched himself from the wall, sparks crackling from his feet and hands as he threw a punch at Ice, who nimbly dodged, leaving Gabe in his path. Fame was quick with stopping, throwing his arm to the ground, sparks flying as he stopped himself and flipped back onto his feet, just in time to be kicked in the back of the head by Ice. He groaned, but leaped forward, putting distance in between himself and Ice. "What an annoyance," he grumbled, rubbing the back of his head and flipping his hair out of his eyes.

Gabe dashed forward after shooting his partner a worried glance and realizing that he seemed to be okay. He swung the scythe that he had copied from Ice, attempting to attack her.

Ice jumped back to dodge and then swung her own scythe, attempting to knock the scythe from Gabe's hands. She did not like the thought of someone using her weapon, even if it was a copy. She dodged another one of his attacks and charged her weapon with magic before swinging and knocking the scythe out of Gabe's hands. Before he could even think about reaching for it, she unsummoned her scythe and kicked the copy away. With a magic coated fist, she punched him in the abdomen, throwing him back into Fame.

Fame dodged Gabe's body, but grabbed him from the floor and sat in on his feet with one quick motion, as if trying to hide his moment of kindness. His body then crackled as he growled "Metal Lightning!" to coat his body in bright blue electricity. With that, he jolted forward and threw a fist at Ice.

She dodged but scowled when she realized that the lightning mage's attack was a feint.

Fame grabbed her shoulder as she moved to the side and surged his magic through her body before punching her with the other hand, putting distance in between himself and her. He hopped back to land beside Gabe. "Copy my magic and charge me up!" he said in a nearly emotionless voice. Fame was the type of fighter who became cold in battle, not bothering to put his energy into emotions.

Gabe complied, grabbing Fame and sending the most powerful blast of electricity that he could must through his body, watching as an overwhelming magic pulsed from Fame. Now, he needed to decide what magic was best to defeat Ice. He could tell by reading her magic that she was a magic dragon slayer, which threw him off. Did that mean that she could just eat magic? Then again, if she could, why hadn't she ate Fame's magic instead of taking hits from him? Maybe she couldn't eat electricity. Maybe it would be best for him to stick with Fame's magic. Maybe they would just beat her with electricity. Then again, maybe it would be best to just copy her magic, since no dragon slayer could eat their own magic. His eyes narrowing, he decided that that was the best course of action, so he let his magic circles swirl around him again, taking in her magic.

Ice's eyes narrowed as she realized that one of the two was a copy mage. That irritated her. She didn't want her magic to be copied. No emotion in her face, she shot forward, pure magic surrounding her fists once again as she attempted to punch Gabe, who dodged.

Gabe and Fame practically danced around Ice, dodging her attacks while trying to confuse her before landing their own attacks.

Fame attacked first, throwing his arm forward and letting out a blast of lightning, calling out "Indie Lightning!"

Gabe coated his fist with magic and punched at Ice.

Ice glared and jumped into the air in attempt to dodge both of the attacks, but the attack from Fame was homing and she found herself being hit by it before she realized what was going on.

Gabe jumped into the air and kicked her in the stomach with a magic kick, smashing her to the ground.

Ice recovered, but just was she rolled back, she felt a hand in her hair and felt electricity pulsing through her as she was lifted from the ground.

"Metal Lightning..." Fame growled, picking the girl up by her hair and shocking her even more. He then threw her against the wall, smirking. She was fast and strong, and between Gabe and him, this battle was just getting warmed up, which suited him just fine.

Ice bounced off the wall and stood, equipping two long, slender blades that had guns for hilts. She flipped the blade around and shot a series of magic bullets at the two guys.

Fame jumped into the air while Gabe flashed to the side, his speed enhanced by Ice's magic.

Ice targeted Fame and in an instant she was in front of him, stabbing her blade into one of his shoulders, ignoring the fact that his lightning coat was shocking her when her skin came in contact with it and then kicked him in the chest, yanking the blade from his shoulder in the process.

Gabe noticed the amount of blood and his eyes widened as Fame landed on the ground and skidded back, holding his bleeding shoulder. Healing magic; he needed to copy someone's healing magic, but the amount of blood that was already staining Fame's shirt made his mind race so that he couldn't think of anything.

Fame flipped his hair, even though it didn't go as well since it was mostly lifted by the pressure and static from his magic and looked over at Gabe. _"Don't worry about me. It's just a flesh-wound. Healing magic takes too much energy and you need to be fighting, too. I'm too awesome to get taken down by one hit." _

Gabe heard his voice and wanted to argue that it wasn't just a flesh-wound since it pierced his shoulder, but Fame was already attempting to fight again, and he knew that he needed to help. So, he hopped around so that he was behind Ice and brought his hands up to his face and a magic circle appeared in front of his face as he called, "Magic Dragon's Roar!" and blasted out pure magic at Ice.

Fame smirked and raised his hand to the sky. "Classical Lightning!" he called, causing a cloud to form over Ice and follow her as she somersaulted out of the way of Gabe's roar.

Ice scowled as she realized that the cloud was following her. She shot a few bullets from the hilt of her blade at both of the boys and then dodged a lightning bolt that shot down at her, growling. She shot at the cloud, causing it to dissipate.

Fame and Gabe dodged the bullets, both landing on the ground in order to avoid them easily. _"Are you sure you're okay?" _Gabe asked telepathically when he landed close to Fame and saw the wound in his shoulder and grimaced, his face paling.

_"Psh. Don't worry about me, dammit!" _Fame growled telepathically. He hated people worrying about him. It made him feel weak. Deciding that blood-loss would probably be a thing if he didn't do something, he cupped his hand over his wound and surged so much electricity into it that it began to burn shut so that it wouldn't bleed anymore. The coat of lightning around him didn't burn him, and he had to force his own magic to damage him. He flipped his hair and climbed to his feet, helping Gabe up quickly again.

Gabe grimaced at what he had just done, finding it a bit disturbing.

Ice had watched as he closed his own wound and thought that he must have a fairly high pain tolerance, which made her gain even more interest in the fight. She lifted her hand and shot out a beam of what looked to be ice, but what was really just chilled magic at the two. They dodged, each jumping to other sides just as she had planned, and she fired bullets at them from the hilts of her swords.

Both of the boys winced as the bullets exploded on contact, damaging them and destroying the shoulders of their shirts. Both of them tried not to pay much mind to the injuries and shot towards Ice, Fame with a lightning covered fist and Gabe with a magic coated fist.

Ice blocked each fist with a blade, her sneakers digging into the dirt floor to prevent from sliding back from the pressure that the power of the two put on her.

_"Kick her when I do," _Fame spoke telepathically to Gabe. When he got the okay from Gabe, he opened his fist and grabbed the blade, sending electricity through Ice's body by letting it travel along the sword, not touching it, while cutting his own hand, blood dripping on the ground. He used his other hand to grab the other blade and did the same. He then kicked her in the side, Gabe doing the same, but to the other side.

Ice scowled, unsummoning her blades and then letting out another Magic Dragon's Roar into the guys' faces, blasting them back. She hopped back and shot a few blasts of icy magic at them and then summoned her scythe, waiting to see if the two could even get up. There weren't many people who could withstand a dragon's roar at close range, on top of the magic that she had used afterwords.

Gabe rolled across the ground, finally landing on his stomach and groaning. His shirt was all kinds of ripped up and he felt a bit weak. However, he was still able to fight. He climbed to his feet and dusted his hair and clothes off.

Fame slid back on his back, grimacing as pain throbbed in the wound on his shoulders. He stopped and his head fell back for a moment. He was dirty, bloody and in pain. On top of that, he had lost his electrical charge that Gabe had given him. "Ow," he breathed, standing up. He burned the wounds on his hands closed and then turned to Gabe. "You still up for fighting?" he asked, tossing his hair out of his face. He was going to need to wash it a thousand times to get it looking as nice as it had before, he thought, a frown flashing across his face.

Ice didn't give the guys much of a chance of catching their breath before darting forward and snatching Gabe up with her scythe, cutting into his stomach and side. She threw him into the air and was about to punch him, but Fame stopped her.

The Lightning mage tackled Ice, zapping her with more Metal Lightning. He threw both of them to the ground, but flipped up on his hands so that he wasn't on top of her long. He didn't like physical contact.

Ice shot him a cold glare and somersaulted back, kicking him in the shoulders, purposely aiming for his wound. As he fell over, she rolled onto her feet, grabbed her scythe and ran towards Gabe again.

Gabe scrambled to his feet, ignoring the slash wound that started just above his left hip and ended in the middle of his right ribcage. He was in pain, but he was still going to fight, because he had a feeling that Fame was in just as much pain, if not more. He coated his fists with magic and jumped over Ice, punching her in the back of the head and then kicking her in the middle of her back.

Ice stumbled, but she didn't let herself fall forward. She swung her scythe around, hitting Gabe in the shoulder with the outside of the blade which didn't cut him, but it did leave a nice bruise. She then roundhouse kicked him to get him away from her, not wanting to be touched.

"Damn, you're annoying," Fame hissed, finally finding the strength to get back to his feet. His shoulder was screaming at him to the point where he could not lift his left shoulder, which was bad because it hindered the use of his dominant hand. Not that the use of his hands wasn't already hindered, since they both had deep cuts that were throbbing with burns on them. Throwing punches would probably cause him more damage than the opponent. He was going to have to fight with kicks or range. "Alternative Lightning!" he called, throwing his hands forward and shooting out a bolt of lightning at her.

Ice dodged, but not only did she dodge, but she grabbed Gabe and threw him into his partner's attack, smirking as she landed away from them.

Fame glared when Gabe was shocked by the lightning. "That bitch..." he hissed. _  
_

Gabe fell to his knees after being shocked, but he didn't stay there long as Fame was at his side, pulling him up by the remains of his shirt. Fame was really persistent about not letting him stay down long; he would had told Fame that he was capable of getting up, but he didn't think Fame would even like him to mention that he was being nice.

"My bad," Fame mumbled under his breath, apologizing for shocking him. He was starting to feel weak. He hated himself for it, but between being hit with attack after attack and losing blood, it was starting to hurt when he breathed. Not to mention he had used his left hand to pull Gabe up and it had made his shoulder start hurting even more. He tossed his eyes out of his face and his eyes flashed with arrogance. "You know, don't think you've won this just because you've got us pretty beat up. We can stand a few weak little hits."

Ice's lips curled into a scowl and she resummoned her blades. Within the blink of an eye, she was in front of the guys again, her eyes glinting with anger. She did not take kindly to being taunted. Knowing that there would be someone back at camp to tend to them, she stomped her foot, causing ice to encase their ankles and feet before driving the blades through their shoulders, intentionally aiming for Fame's wound.

Gabe let out a grunt of pain and attempted to copy someone's healing magic to help himself, but the shock from her snatching the blade out caused him to cough and drop to his knees, his eyes losing their shimmer as he fought to stay conscious, his mind wanting to shut down from the pain. He looked over to see that Fame had fallen to his knees as well.

"Dammit..." Fame breathed, trying to keep his cool. His breathing was erratic and he felt as though he was going to pass out, but he did not want to lose the battle. He was too strong... Not supposed to lose.

_"I don't think we're gonna win this... This girl's violent," _Gabe spoke, almost falling forward, but forcing himself not to when he saw that Ice was pointing a blade at each of them. He looked up and realized how bad they had lost.

She was bruised and covered in burns from Fame's lightning , but there was no blood on her, apart from a drop here or there that had fallen from her blades and she was breathing normally still. There was no way they were getting anywhere with this.

"You two should forfeit..." she spoke for the first time, her voice completely emotionless. "I have no problem continuing the fight, but I will not go any easier on you just because you are injured..."

Fame rolled his eyes and tossed his hair away from his face. His bracelet had begun to flash and so had Gabe's. "Fine," he said, placing a hand on her sword. "But here's a little something so that you won't forget me," he added, sending lightning up the blade, coursing along it but not touching it since metal would simply conduct the electricity and absorb it. He expelled all the magic that he could without completely destroying himself before falling forward and passing out.

Gabe frowned as they were teleported out of the cave, wondering why Fame would do that, since it seemed completely pointless.

* * *

Meanwhile...

Sharon was a laid back type of person for the first what she felt to be thirty minutes; she was fine with just relaxing in her cavern, which was lit by golden lights. However, when time seemed to slow, she had made a clock out of air in front of her, realizing that it seemed to have been forty-five minutes or so since she had gotten in the cave. She frowned and let out a sigh of impatience. Okay, it was taking too long for them to arrive, and if she got much border, she was going to start wasting her magic on something that would entertain her, that being her magic. She didn't really have anything to think about. She wasn't fond of being on the island, really. She wasn't antisocial and she had friends within the guild, so she didn't need this forced socialization that Winter was planning. She and most of the people that he considered friends such as Adrian, Cantrelle and Lillay knew how to socialize just fine. She also doubted that any of the mages that did have a problem socializing would change their ways. They may put on a fake act when Winter was threatening them, but it would all be fake in the end.

"So...What should I call you, then?" Kai asked, grinning down at Marionette, his eyes sparkling playfully. He had been thinking of something else to call her since she always told him not to call her that when he changed his nickname for her. He was running out of names, he thought. They were walking down the path that they had chosen and Marionette had resulted in folding her arms across her chest and throwing daggers at Kai with her eyes.

"Marionette is fine," she said, sticking her nose up to him and trying to ignore him. She would be glad when they finished the exam so that she could get a break from him. She didn't plan to stop working with him because she couldn't deny that they made a good team, but she just needed a break from him. His cheery and flirtatious personality was starting to get tiring and she had seen him nearly every day for the past two months. She had to commend her own efforts and success of not killing him.

"Oh, c'mon... I really like you and so I should have a nickname for you, beauty," Kai said, stepping in front of her and walking backwards. He was only playing around and he didn't really feel as though he had to have a nickname for her, but he just loved how angry she got when it came to them.

"I really do NOT care for you giving me a nickname," she said in a cold tone. "Also, do you really think it's intelligent to walk in with your back turned to the S-class wizard when we get to them?"

"I dunno, probably not," Kai said, laughing and turning to fall instep with her.

Sharon saw as the two walked through the entrance to the cave and she grinned, already ready for the battle. "Hi!" she greeted. "I'm Sharon and I hope you two can keep up with me, since you've got to fight me!"

"She's an air mage," Kai told Marionette, recognizing Sharon as one of the girls who tended to hang out in the garden that he and Leo liked to flirt with. "She's also known as 'Speed of the Tempest Sharon' because she's really fast," he added.

Marionette didn't seem impressed nor surprised by the name. "We are light mages. I am quite certain that light is faster," she said.

"We'll just have to see about that!" Sharon called. She wasn't going to underestimate the speed of two light mages and she didn't doubt that they would be able to put their magic together as well, so she was ready for anything. However, she wasn't one to be underestimated, either. With air swirling around her, she shot forward at a speed that the human eye could barely comprehend.

Suddenly, Kai and Marionette found themselves surrounded by many images of Sharon that hovered around them.

"Hmph," Marionette still didn't seem impressed. "It seems that I'll just have to destroy all of them," she said. With that a magic circle appeared over her outstretched palm and she said, "Light Magic: Lumière du Soleil!" With that, a wisp of light appeared in her hand and then burst, striking all of the Sharon clones apart from the real thing.

Sharon narrowly managed to dodge the attack and then called "Air Magic: Tempest Turn!" right when she was in front of Kai. She then made a u-turn so that she was behind him and kicked him, only to find herself falling through a light projection. "What?" she hissed.

"You're not the only one who can make clones!" Kai called, appearing out of nowhere from above and yelled, "Light Magic: Sunflare Punch!" as he slammed his fist into her chest and sent her flying back.

Marionette had wondered why Kai hadn't been moving and she spent a few seconds thinking about when he had placed the clone and vanished. She decided that it probably didn't matter and focused on Sharon. "Light Magic: Balle!" she called, holding up both of her palms forward and shooting bullets of light at Sharon.

Sharon recovered from the attack and dodged the bullets, darting through the air. A small tornado formed on her palm as she dodged and she threw it forward as it started to grow, aiming at both of the light mages.

"Light Magic: Light Buster!" Kai bellowed as he stepped forward with his broadsword shimmering brightly with his magic. He stood in front of Marionette and sliced through the tornado, destroying it.

"You know, I do not need protecting," Marionette said, placing a hand on her hip.

"So? Just because you're really strong doesn't mean I'm not gonna protect the girl I like," Kai said, grinning over his shoulder.

Marionette smiled as he fed her pride, but completely ignored his rather blunt hinting at the fact that he liked her.

Sharon was a bit annoyed that he could stand up to her twister so easily. She wasn't going to lose confidence, though. She shot into the air and shouted "Air Magic: Air Whip!", pulling tow long whips out of the air and practically teleporting forward, wrapping one whip around Marionette's leg and wrapping the other around Kai's leg, causing them both to fall to the ground.

Marionette knew that getting downed would only have the S-class wizard thinking that she would have the upper-hand, which was something that the female light mage did not want. So, magic circles whirred around her as she shouted "Light Magic: Cadeau du Ciel!" Bright light burst from her as she did this. It wasn't meant to damage, but simply to distract Sharon long enough for Kai and her to recover.

Kai already knew the magic from training so he pulled himself to his feet and grabbed his sword, smirking at Marionette, who was standing as well. "Amazing as always, I see?" he said, smirking.

"Naturally," Marionette said, a prideful smile on her face.

"Nnn..." Sharon grumbled as she was blinded. When the light started to fade, she rubbed at her eyes and then was bouncing back, ready to attack again. This time she equipped her trusty flaming sword which she called Alastor. She would see how this worked on them. In one swift movement, she was behind Marionette and swinging with the blade whose flames crackled.

Marionette was quick, too and she turned around saying, "Light Magic: Dague!" at the same time. Two daggers made of light magic appeared in her hands and she used them to block Sharon's attack, the heel of her boots sinking into the ground as she was determined not to slide back or get overpowered.

Kai attacked as well, while Sharon was held up by Marionette. "Light Magic: Sunflare Beam!" he cried, using the hand that wasn't occupied by his blade to fire a beam of light at Sharon.

Sharon dodged quickly, though she left the image of herself in the place to by herself time. As soon as the two light mages found out that it was a clone, she threw a tornado at Marionette and then performed another u-turn, pulling a whip out of the air and cracking it across Kai's back.

Marionette skipped backwards to dodge the tornado, her eyebrows furrowing when Kai was knocked to the ground by a whip that hit him hard enough to rip open his shirt. "Light Magic: Luminous!" she shouted as a bow and arrow formed in her hand and she shot an arrow at Sharon.

The air mage smirked and dodged, and called out, "Air Magic: Piercing Arrow!", conjuring up her own bow and arrow that was made of wind. She shot one of the arrows, which became bigger as it traveled across the cavern to Marionette.

Marionette hopped into the air and shot another arrow at Sharon, smirking.

Kai recovered from the attack at this point and in the blinked of an eye, he was behind Sharon, hitting her with the flat part of his blade and throwing her forward. "Light Magic: Sunflare Beam!" He called as he shot another beam of light directly into her back.

Sharon let out a cry of pain and rolled out of the way. "Air Magic: Heaven's Ascent!" she called, raising her hand to the sky and then slamming it down on the ground, sending a disk of air rushing towards Kai.

Kai prepared his sword and slashed at the air disk, causing it to dissipate just as he had the twister.

Sharon hopped to her feet and within a few seconds, the cave was full of clones that she created, making it so that Kai and Marionette couldn't even see each other. With the confusion, she pulled out her sword and went for Kai first, silently using Air Magic: Tempest Turn to spin around him and then bring the fiery blade over his shoulder, knocking him to his knees.

Marionette didn't move at all, knowing that one of the clones would be the real thing. Her eyes scanned every inch of the cave and when she saw Kai drop to his knees, she yelled, "Light Magic: Strike-Through!" and shot out a beam of light at all of the clones that were around him. A flash caught her eye and she called out her attack again as she landed a hit on Sharon, piercing her shoulder and knocking her out of the air. "Light Magic: Balle!" She cried, firing light bullets at her as she fell.

At the same time, Kai called out "Light Magic: Sunflare Burst!" With that, a series of rays of light shot from him in every direction, ridding the battlefield of the clones and leaving just he, Marionette and Sharon.

Sharon was on the ground at the moment, attempting to recover from the attack that Marionette had landed on her when an idea came to her mind. Light magic usually needed a source of light, right? The only source of light in the cavern was the crystals that hung from the ceiling. She could defeat them fairly easily if she just took out the crystals. So, she climbed to her feet, a tremble traveling through her body as pain shot through her bleeding shoulder. She pulled her bow and arrow from the air, wincing in pain as her shoulder reminded her that it was injured. Within the blink of an eye, she leaped away from the two light mages, trying to distance herself so that her plan would go through. She fired one of her arrows, taking out a few of the many crystals.

"What is she doing?" Kai asked, walking over to stand next to Marionette.

Marionette didn't know the answer at first, but when she realized what was going on, her eyes widened. "We have to stop her!" she said, turning to Kai with her eyes narrowed.

When he saw the unusual look of surprise in Marionette's face, Kai realized what was going on and as Marionette stepped forward, he grabbed her wrist to stop her. _"Unison Raid?"_ he asked telepathically.

_"No, we're going to need our magic for the next trial... If we do that, then we'll surely fail the next trial," _Marionette responded. _"If we work fast enough and we try hard enough, we can do this without doing that..."_

Kai nodded and stepped forward. "Light Magic: Sunflare Beam!" he called, shooting a beam of light at Sharon, who dodged with ease.

Marionette was waiting for her to dodge Kai's attack, her thoughts speeding through her head as she strategized, trying to think of how the battle would go and what would be the best moves for them to make without running themselves low on magic. She held her hands up as she summoned her bow and arrow and shot and arrow at where Sharon would be after dodging Kai's attack, if she planned everything right. She smiled to herself when the arrow landed in Sharon's bicep and vanished, leaving a wound.

Kai rushed forward while Sharon was stunned and as he shouted "Light Magic: Light Buster!" He swung his sword and hit her with it, throwing her against the wall.

Sharon recovered as she was sliding down the wall and stood shakily on her feet. She was taking quite a beating and she had to admit that she was right for no underestimating them. Then again, was there anyone in Silver Griffin that needed to be underestimated? She smiled at the thought. She wondered if her childhood friend's guild was this awesome? Then again, they were the top guild in Fiore for two years standing, so maybe they were. Silver Griffin would take that title as soon as Winter let them off their leashes and let them participate, though.

The air mage had one more attack up her sleeve and if it didn't do enough damage to them to make them weak enough to finish off, she wasn't sure what would. She threw her arms out and eight magic circles popped up and danced so that they were circling Kai and Marionette. Tornadoes surged from the circles and crashed into each other, taking up part of the ground and ceiling with them.

"This isn't good," Kai spoke lowly, grabbing Marionette's arm with one of his hands and then holding his glowing sword tightly in the other hand. "Don't let go of me," he said, just as they were scooped into the mess, cut by the razor-like winds and pelted with chunks of dirt of stone.

Marionette listened to him for once and used her free arm to cling to his arm, wincing as she was bruised, battered and cut by the giant tornado that they were now engulfed in. She wasn't sure how they were going to get out of this unless Kai's sword could help them. Judging by the thickness of the walls of wind around them, there would be no way to get an attack through, so they couldn't hope that knocking Sharon out would help it.

Kai held onto Marionette as tight as he could, glad to feel her holding onto him and swung his sword, barely fazing the magic. "Dammit..." he hissed. He pulsed more magic into the blade and tried again, a bit happier with the results as a small gap was made in the tornado, though it was instantly filled back in. All he needed to do was either get his sword through the wind and stabbed into the ground or get a big enough gap slashed into the tornado that he and Marionette could get out of it. He bet that the former would be easier so he forced his body to move down in the vortex, still holding onto Marionette and then put as much strength as he could into an attack with the sword. He felt it hit the ground and he lunged forward, glad that the dirt was fairly soft. Coating his body and Marionette's body with light magic, he summoned up all the strength that he could and burst through the tornado, throwing Marionette forward by a few feet in case he got sucked back up.

Marionette rolled on the ground, letting a few small grunts of pain. She landed looked at Kai to see him being pulled back into the tornado. Moving lightning fast, she grabbed his arm and pulled him back, keeping as much distance between herself and the tornado as possible. She tugged him and then threw him. She then proceeded to pick up his blade and throw it to him as well.

Kai caught the blade, thankful for Marionette's help and then attacked Sharon, who hadn't even seen them escape from the vortex since she had been on the other side of the vortex. Her eyes widened as she was smashed into the wall, blood dripping from the corners of her mouth.

Marionette caught up to Kai and after shouting "Light Magic: Balle!" she fired more bullets of light at Sharon, whose bracelet had already begun to blink.

The vortex in the center of the cavern stopped and Sharon fell to the ground on her knees. "I must admit..." she started, her breathing a bit erratic. "That was a pretty damn good fight!" she finished, grinning up at Kai and Marionette, who were watching her.

"Hell yeah!" Kai said, grinning. "That was awesome!" he said. "We should do it again sometime!"

"I'm up for it," Sharon said, his own smile breaking into a grin. She had to admit that while she had been defeated pretty badly, she hadn't had a battle to be that enjoyable in a while, so she was happy. And she had tried her best, so Winter wouldn't be able to take her title, either.

"I think it would be quite enjoyable," Marionette said, returning her smile with her own small smile.

Sharon waved and teleported out after the barrier to the next area dropped.

"We did it! We were awesome!" Kai cheered, hugging Marionette to his chest and laughing.

"Would you expect any less?" she asked, her voice full of sarcasm, though she had a smile on her face. Luckily, it was hidden from Kai. "Now, let me go!" she said, annoyance taking over her voice.

"Aw, c'mon, m'lady, we should celebrate with a hug and a kiss!" Kai joked, not letting her go yet.

Marionette squirmed, her eyes narrowing and the smile finally fading from her face. "One, I told you to let go of me. Two, do not give me nicknames. Three, haven't you used that one? How unoriginal are you?"

Kai laughed and let her go. "Hm... Would calling you 'my queen' work?" he asked as they started to walk. "You know, you're tougher and way more beautiful than any queen out there, so I think it suits you."

"I think Marionette suits me just fine," she responded, combing her fingers through her hair, realizing how messed up it was. Then again, Kai didn't look much better, since his shirt had been ripped off during all of that, his torso was bruised and bloody and his hair was about as messed up as short hair could be.

* * *

**Author's Note: **And that's that. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! :D And review if you want. Thanks for reading! I've got some stuffs to do, so Friday's update may be a little late, but I'll get it out. I get to get a break from battles so I can write faster! :)

**Review Responses: **

Thank you for reviewing! :D Lots of love as always!

**starblack17 - **Thank you~ I'm really happy that this is getting a lot of reviews. :D Hehe. You will see Monk and Coyote again soon-ish. :)

**La Maitresse' Dame - **Really? I could see Danny being one of the ones who would lose regardless of how I did this because he doesn't like fighting his guildmates. I hope you're not disappointed with Kai and Marionette's battle! c:

**shadowssj12 - **I'm happy that you like the fight scenes! I hope I didn't disappoint with these as well.

**LilTimy - **I hope the scene with Gabe didn't disappoint you too much. They got Ice and on top of that, they lost, so... Yeah... They tried really hard though, and Gabe may have a new semi-friend in Fame, since they sorta get along. :)

**Nicky Azure - **I'm happy that I did a good job with Azura! Glad you liked the chapter so much.

**Barrett M107 -** I'm really happy that you think so highly of my writing! :) I don't think it's anything to be jealous of, though. XD I'm happy that I'm doing good with Coyote as well. I don't mind the gap between reviews... In all honesty, I don't always review when I read. -_-; Sometimes I can't think of anything to say. Thanks for the congratulations! :D


	21. Chapter 20

**Author's Note: **Wooh, chapter 20! Anyway, hi, guys~ Enjoy this chapter that allows me to take a break from writing battles. :D Oh, and thank you all so much for the votes. :D I think there are a few people who haven't voted, and that's perfectly fine. Anyway, I'm not gonna say the results anytime soon, even if I get all the votes. It will be revealed when Winter announces it in the story. I have decided that I will not vote, and instead number all the character with a tie and use a number generator to determine who is on the team, if there are ties.

* * *

CHAPTER TWENTY

At the camp...

"It looks like everyone who is going to come back is here," Winter said, standing up from her spot and dropping her lacrima vision, which she had been using to watch over the participants.

"How many teams made it through?" Adrian asked. His eyes portrayed worry and concern, as did Cantrelle's. Nurse duty hadn't been easy, and Adrian had found that his shirt was covered in blood, none of which was his own, and he had had to deal with some pretty bad wounds. Now, it had slowed down and he and Cantrelle were sitting next to Winter, resting. He had been informed that it wasn't the end and that trial two would bring more injuries, so he didn't bother to change out of his clothing yet.

"Five..." Winter said. "All of which have sustained a good deal of injuries or loss of magic..." she added, sighing. "I may have made this exam too hard," she mumbled under her breath.

"Who are they?" Nezuko asked. She had woken up, only to panic when she found that Emery had been badly injured and that Gwen hadn't even come out of the caves. Now, she had calmed down a bit and was lying down with her eyes half-closed from being tired.

"Kimi and Jared, Monk and Coyote, Gwen and Leo, Marionette and Kai, and Mistere and Hikari," Winter said, smiling. "Not a surprising turnout, to be honest..." he added, laughing lightly.

Nezuko frowned. She knew that if Gwen was the type to brag she would be able to hold that over her head. Then again, Gwen was definitely not the boastful type, which made her happy. Maybe she shouldn't treat Gwen like a weak child all the time. She didn't want to think about it. Her head still hurt like hell and she wanted to go back to sleep.

"Do you think they're gonna be okay? Are they worse off than some of the people we've treated?" Cantrelle asked, tears glazing her eyes. She hadn't expected any of this. It was terrifying and depressing.

Winter let out another sigh. "I don't know, sweet child," she said in a soft voice. She was worried about all of her children. Most of them didn't even have the strength left in them to walk, and the ones that did walk had to put all of their energy into it, it seemed. Some of them had wounds that would most definitely leave scars. She hated seeing them in this condition. She barely even noticed that she was crying until Cantrelle grabbed her hand.

"I'm...I'm sure they'll be okay..." Cantrelle cooed, trying to keep her panic from rising after seeing her guild master start crying.

"Yeah, Winter-sama... We're taking care of them and we'll take care of the ones who come out from the second trial, too," Adrian said, his eyes widening when he saw that the elder woman was crying. He gently rubbed her back,

"...I know... But they are my children... One day you two will have kids, and you will understand what it is like to see them hurting..." Winter said, smiling weakly.

Crystal appeared before Adrian or Cantrelle could comfort Winter anymore. "Winter... We came up with this trial and we're going to fall through with it. The ten mages that are still in the caves would be more than upset if we just call it off. They have determination to become S-class and they would want to keep on trying," she said. "You've got to stop being so soft on these mages or they will never know what true strength is..."

"...Maybe what strength they have is enough..." Winter mumbled under her breath, pulling out a handkerchief and dabbing at her eyes with it.

"It's not... If you don't let these mages grow, if we were to fall under attack, they would all perish," Crystal said, her eyes narrowed. "They need to learn the hardships of being a mage."

"...Many of them joined this guild to escape hardships..."

"Well, they need to understand that being a mage isn't an easy life. It's a life that requires strength and heart. It's a life that often ends shortly for those who don't understand this, such as many of our friends, including your daughter and hus-"

"That's enough now Crystal..." Winter said, her voice going flat, her eyes flashing with anger. "The past is the past... I have lost a great many to this job, and that is why I will protect the ones that are on this island with my life if I have to... I don't need your cold words to make me realize what must be done..."

Crysal glared at her sister. "I do hope that you will toughen up on these hoodlums, then," she said before walking off to put distance in between her and her sister.

Cantrelle instantly hugged Winter. "I don't think you're wrong for the way you treat us," she said in a sweet voice. The little girl loved Winter more than she ever had anyone else; the elderly wizard made her feel safe and protected.

Winter returned the hug and then wrapped one arm around Adrian, smiling as he jumped with surprise. "Adrian... What do you think? I think you are mature and you should have an opinion about this..."

Adrian's eyes dropped as he thought about it. "I... I think I would be neutral... Being a nice guild master isn't bad, and I don't think you crying over them is bad, either. You are an amazing guild master... But, even if you're not a mage, the world can be cruel, so you know... People should be strong and they should learn to stand on their own and not be sheltered..." he then blushed, realizing that he sounded harsh in his opinion. "N-not that I really know. I barely even consider myself to be a mage! Please, don't be offended by my words... I-I really probably don't know what I'm talking about!"

Winter laughed lightly. "You have seen loss in your life, haven't you, child?" she asked, rubbing his back gently. "You fit in well here..."

Adrian frowned timidly. "Y-you think so, huh?" he said, referring to the "fitting in" part and playing with the clothe bracelet on his wrist. Through everything, he had made sure not to get a drop of blood on it.

"I think you do!" Cantrelle said, looking past Winter to grin at him.

Winter let out a sigh and pulled out a lacrima. "I need to announce the next trial," she said. With that, the lacrima began to grow. "Hello to the five teams that are now waiting..." she started. When the lacrima flashed to show that the message had went through, she spoke again. "I would like to congratulate you for your efforts, my children... The second trial will not be any easier, though."

"When my message ends, a new magic will start in the area. The caves that are now accessible will start freezing over with magic-absorbing ice. You will have one week to find the exit to the cave, which will be at the top of the caverns. There are two catches. One, only three teams can make it out, meaning that at least two of you will not make it. Two, there are certain caverns that will not absorb magic, but they will lock you in. If that is the case, you will have to sit in the cavern for two days or until another team stumbles into the cavern. If you have to wait, there will be supply kits containing food, water and medicine for open wounds in the cavern. If another team stumbles into the cavern, you will have to fight until one team loses. If you're lucky, you will not have to fight anyone. Please note that if you are unlucky, you may end up facing all four other teams or end up wasting your week in caverns, since they don't absorb magic. The caves are a maze, so you may come to dead ends. If you attack another team while not in one of the special caverns, you will instantly be disqualified. Regarding food and water, there are also supply kits randomly hidden in the caves, though it may not be the best idea to stop and eat while your magic is being absorbed. If your bracelet starts flashing red, it will mean you are almost out of magic, and if it turns solid red, you have failed and you will be teleported out," she explained. "Is everything understood?"

When ten voices said some form of "Yes", she smiled and said, "My message is now over. Let the magic begin!"

* * *

In the caves...

Monk and Coyote both plopped down against the wall once they realized that the end to the pathway that they had followed after their battle led to another barrier. They were both tired and Coyote was starting to wonder if his wounds, caused by Eira's blade, were ever going to stop bleeding. He was confident enough in his strength that he wasn't worried about it, though.

"Damn, that was an amazing fight, right?" Monk said, grinning. He lifted his shirt to see a huge black bruise covering most of his side, caused by Nezuko when she was in her Rat Take-Over Form. The two mages had had the unluckiness of having to face off against two other mages of Silver Griffin, but they had won fairly easily, even though they had both sustained a few injuries in the process.

"Hmph," Coyote shrugged. He had enjoyed getting to fight with so many buffers added to his strength, but in all honesty, he would have preferred someone that could stand up better to him. Then again, what could he expect? He was just too strong.

"Oh, c'mon. We're going to the second trial. I bet a lot of people aren't getting the opportunity. Show a smile once in a while. I don't know if I've ever actually seen a smile from you," Monk said, his eyes narrowing.

"Tch. No reason to," Coyote said, glaring at Monk.

"Life is beautiful. I mean, you get to be around me and you're a griffin," Monk argued.

Coyote only snorted in response.

That's when Winter's voice sounded from their bracelet, starting to explain the second trial. The two listened, both bringing their wrists closer to their faces. When she asked for confirmation that everything was understood, Monk and Coyote both responded with "Yeah," and dropped their wrists.

Monk was the first one to stand, grinning. "So... I think we have plenty of magic left. We're gonna win this trial, too!" he said, determination in his eyes. "What do you say, Coyote?" he asked, extending a hand down to his partner.

Coyote scowled at him and stood, completely ignoring his hand. "Of course we'll pass it," he said, walking ahead of Monk towards the next part of the caverns, since the barrier that was previously in front of them dropped.

"One day, he'll find a reason to be nice," Monk mumbled under his breath, walking quickly to catch up to the animal mage.

* * *

Meanwhile...

"Are... Are you gonna be okay?" Jared asked. He and Kimi had walked into the pathway that was beyond the "Crystalline Chaos" only to find that a barrier had appeared behind them and in front of them, trapping them in a small section of the cave. Kimi had sat down next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. He had realized that her breathing had slowed and she wasn't chatty like usual. He was scared that she was more injured that she was letting on.

She didn't respond to him and he craned his neck to see her face, blinking in surprise when he realized that she appeared to be asleep. He brought his neck back up to rest his head against the wall, leaving her be.

After a moment, she stirred, though. "...Hm...?" she groaned, rubbing her eyes and sitting up and looking at Jared with sleepy eyes. "I'm... I'm sorry..." she said, smiling tiredly. "I think I'm sleepy... Just a little, and you're warm," she said, her eyes sparkling affectionately.

"Are you gonna be okay for the second trial?" Jared asked, returning her smile with a small, sheepish smile. He still couldn't say that he was used to her affectionate nature. The part of him that lacked confidence wondered if she was naturally affectionate or if she really liked him.

"I'll be fine~" she said, smiling brightly. "You're pretty beat up, too. Are you gonna be okay?" she asked.

"Don't worry about me," he responded sincerely.

Almost as if cuing it, Winter spoke from their bracelets, announcing and explaining the second trial. When she asked if everyone understood, both Jared and Kimi confirmed that they did.

Jared stood and helped Kimi up.

"This trial's gonna be hard, but I think we can do it~" Kimi said, twirling around and then skipping towards the next path in the caverns, looking back at Jared to make sure that he was following.

"I think we can, too," he said, following behind her, thinking that the way she skipped was quite girly and smiling to himself.

* * *

Meanwhile...

Hikari and Mistere weren't necessarily in bad condition. Stark hadn't even landed a hit on Hikari, and while Mistere was bruised, she didn't feel bad. However, both of the girls were low on magic, so while Mistere simply sunk down against the wall and closed her eyes, Hikari had taken to lying on the ground, using her arms as pillows.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Hikari asked, her voice cheerful. She was low on magic, but all she really had to do was scoop up some dirt and eat it when the next trial started. Right now, she was okay with the non-dragon-slayer way of recovering because it felt nice to relax. She was kinda excited to find out what the next part of the trial was because she felt as though they had finished the first battle in pretty good timing and they would have a good bit of time to recover.

"I don't think so," Mistere said, returning her smile, though she kept her eyes closed. She was tired at that moment and she just wanted to rest. She was still excited for the second trial, but it felt good to sit down in such a quiet, confined area, since both directions that they could go were blocked by barriers so they couldn't travel back or progress further.

"Hey... You said something about going on a date with one of the guys in the guild," Hikari started, opening one of her eyes to look over at Mistere. "What ever happened with that?"

Mistere opened her eyes and thought about it. "I dunno. We started training, I guess. Either that or he was just playing around," she said. "He seems like the type to be a player," she added, referring to Fame as she spoke. He had said something about going on a date with her, though she didn't really know him at all. She had only agreed because in all honesty, she hadn't dated before and besides, he had pulled the "you owe me" trick after catching her and stopping an embarrassing fall.

"Hmm..." Hikari said, not really sure what to say. She wasn't the type that was completely against dating, though she did feel as though she had fairly high standards. She preferred tough guys but who could be soft or funny if they felt like it. She just didn't feel as though anyone in the guild was right for her. She would feel happy for Mistere if she found someone in the guild, though. "...Do you like that type of guy?" she asked. She had watched the scene that day and even though she hadn't been in the guild that long, she recognized him as one of the troublemakers.

"...No," Mistere answered dryly. "I just wanna see what it's like to date if he was being serious. He apparently likes blue, which means he likes me for my appearance, which won't go far, either..."

"You're setting your standards pretty low if you go out with someone like that, first," Hikari said, frowning slightly.

"At least I may be able to build some standards," Mistere said, shrugging.

Their conversation was interrupted as Winter's voice sounded from their lacrima bracelets and they turned their attention to them. They listened as Winter explained the second trial and responded positively when she asked for confirmation that everything was okay.

"So, let's get going," Hikari said, springing to her feet and joining Mistere, who was also standing now. Together, they advanced.

* * *

Meanwhile...

"Gwen..." Leo's voice held a tinge of panic as he propped Gwen up against the wall and sat down in front of her, crossing his legs. "I think we need to drop out of his thing..." he said, looking her in her eyes. She was starting to zone out and her skin was covered in a cold sweat. He was about to use the lacrima bracelet to ask Winter if they could quit.

"...No...Please...I'll get through this..." Gwen said, though she winced as she spoke. She hated this. She hated migraines. She had forgotten to pack her usual medicine, too, so unless Nezuko had remembered it, she could possibly in this state the entire time... Or at least for a few days. She didn't want to be the reason for Leo losing. He deserved to be S-class in her opinion and she would be strong for him because he would be there for her.

"...You look... Bad," Leo said, trying to find nice wording. "...What's wrong...? Does the overload cause this much damage?" he asked, his voice soft, but wavering ever so slightly. He hated this. She looked like she was on the brink of death or something. The two had had to face the light-hearted stitch mage known as Danny, but unknowing of her weakness, he had made a weapon out of Leo's magic and attacked her with it, causing her to overload on her magic and become ill.

"...Sick..." Gwen responded. "The cave is fairly dark, so it may go away..." she said, though she was trying to convince herself, not him. "...I get sick... Still... Sometimes..." she explained slowly. Her head was hurting so bad that she could barely form a complete thought. She wanted Nezuko. Her cousin always made her feel better, somehow.

Leo had never been around her when she got sick. He could feel his panic spiking, which wasn't that was common for him, as he tried to be carefree and not let things get to him. "How often does this happen?" he asked.

"...Not sure... Sometimes... A couple of times a month...? Nezuko-chan... Takes care of me..." Gwen said, now hugging her knees. She wanted it to stop. No matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise, she knew that she wouldn't be able to fight in this condition.

"Is there anything I can do?" Leo asked, his panic residing ever-so-slightly when he heard that it wasn't a rare occurrence. He still wasn't any happier about it happening, though.

"...Don't have my medicine on the island... Unless Nezuko-chan got it..." Gwen responded.

"How fast does this take it's course? What's going to happen?" Leo asked, his brows furrowing.

"Migraine... Sick...Cold..." Gwen responded. "It'll last... A few days, without medicine..."

"We're quitting, then," Leo said, lifting his bracelet closer to his mouth. He ended up jumping due to being startled when Winter spoke through it. At first, he thought that maybe she had been watching or listening, but he quickly found out that she was talking to all of the ones who had made it past trial one. He heard Gwen question whether or not Nezuko made it through and he found himself wondering who had made it through. He had spoken to Kai and knew that he was working with a girl that he was interested in, too and so he wondered how they had fared. When Winter asked if they comprehended the trial, they responded quickly and then Leo turned his attention back to Gwen.

"There is no way I'm going through with this if there's a chance that we have to fight," he said. "There are some people in this exam that may not have problems fighting you in this condition, so we're dropping out, okay?"

Gwen shook her head. "...I don't want you to fail because of me... I knew something like this would happen..." she whimpered out, tears in her eyes.

"I don't care," Leo said. He then grinned, trying to lighten the mood. "Besides, y'know you could always pay me back by admitting that you love me or going on a date with me," he teased.

He was happy to see her blush and smile, which looked fairly normal apart from her eyes still being bloodshot and her skin being pale. "Erm... I dunno..." she said in a small voice. She was speaking more about the first part of his suggestion of ways to pay him back. She liked him; she wasn't sure if she was completely in love with him, though she questioned it sometimes.

"Oh, c'mon, you know you love me," he continued to tease. He then sombered up slightly, his voice still a bit lighter than before. "So, that means you're okay with quitting, if you've considered paying me back?" he asked.

Gwen thought about the fact that she hadn't said that, but she wasn't sure if she was going to win this argument. "Leo..." she mumbled, sorrow clouding her eyes. "I'm so sorry..." she whispered under her breath, hugging herself.

"Don't worry about it, damsel," Leo said, grinning. "Remember that you have to pay me back, though. You could just say a few words, like 'Leo, I love you. You've stolen my heart,' or 'Leo, you're so amazing, like a knight in shining armor, I love you!' or you could spend the whole day out with me!" He said the quotes with a tone that mocked the standard love-struck princess.

Gwen found herself giggling, despite the fact that she was sick and felt bad for dropping out of the exam.

With that, Leo contacted Winter and requested to be teleported out.

* * *

Meanwhile...

"Looks like we're not going any further," Kai said once they stopped in front of the barrier that blocked off the next part of the exam. He wondered why they had even gotten to advance if they were just going to be trapped in a narrow strip of hallway. It was a bit annoying and it made him wonder if any of the griffins had claustrophobia.

"We have no option but to take a break a rest," Marionette said, sitting down against the wall. "That was most likely Winter's intentions. If she had left the pathway open, people would travel and such and wouldn't actually rest."

"You're probably right," Kai said, plopping down next to her and wrapping an arm around her shoulder. They had fought against Sharon, the S-class mage who used air magic, and they had ended up winning, just as all of the teams who were waiting for the second part of the exams.

A vein swelled on Marionette's forehead and she swatted his hand away. Just because she hadn't went off for hugging him once did not mean that they had anything special going on! It was the heat of that moment of victory and she had gotten caught up in everything. That was all. "Do not touch me," she said flatly.

Kai pouted, but complied, folding his arms across his chest. "So... Tell me about yourself," he said, a light tone to his voice.

"...What?" Marionette looked at him with her brows scrunched together. Was he just bluntly asking something like that?

"You know... Why'd you join the guild? How'd you learn light magic? Stuff like that," Kai said. "I can go first if you'd like."

"Erm... No," Marionette responded, looking away from him. She wasn't one to talk about her past. Even thinking about it made her heart start racing and her eye twitched as she tried to control it. If she flipped out, she would have to tell him. He would never stop if she didn't. She had to keep her calm. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly.

Kai trusted Marionette, which was something that even surprised him, and he figured that letting her know some stuff about him would entice her to tell him something about her later, so he began to talk. "Well, I learned light magic because I was adopted by a light mage after some things happened to my parents and brother..." he started, a slight frown on his face that soon faded when he talked about the next part of his back story. "I started to travel after I learned my magic and one day I ended up being ganged up on by a dark guild, and Danny saved me and got me to join the guild."

Marionette had to think for a moment before she even realized that Danny was a member of Silver Griffin. One of the S-class mages, actually.

"I respect Danny, and even though he rarely lets people work with him, he's probably the first friend I made within the guild," Kai said. Even though Kai was pretty sure that Danny was a bit younger than him due to birthday celebrations, Danny's maturity usually caused him to see the stitch mage as sort of a big brother figure, though a much better brother figure than his own brother.

"My apologies, but I am not one to talk about my past," Marionette said after a small moment of silence.

Kai didn't have time to respond as their bracelets began to speak to them, Winter's voice coming from them. They listened and confirmed that they understood her words. The barrier in front of them dropped and Kai stood at the same time as Marionette. Together they walked to trial two.

* * *

At the camp...

Winter was surprised when Leo requested to teleport out, though she complied and manually activated their teleportation devices. "You two have someone else to attend to. Run and get Leo's and Gwen's bedrolls, please," she said to Adrian and Cantrelle, who were still sitting with her.

Adrian was already standing when he heard the voice of one of the male's requesting to be teleported out. He was moving when Winter told him what to do.

Nezuko was barely awake when she heard Winter tell them to get Gwen's bed. She sat up, groaning when her body protested her moving. She saw Gwen and Leo appear in a flash of light, similar to how everyone else had and she realized instantly what was going on. She started to panic and force herself to her feet, but Adrian stopped her, pushing on her shoulders to keep her down.

"What's wrong? You don't need to be moving," Adrian spoke, his voice kind but firm.

"I need my backpack," she said, glaring at Adrian.

"Okay," Adrian said. He sped Gwen's bedroll next to Nezuko and then sprinted off back to Nezuko's tent.

* * *

At the camp...

Time passed and soon the island was bathed in the bright oranges and purples of the sunset. As the faded light traveled through the sky, one could see that there was a giant lacrima barrier around the entire island. Upon Cantrelle's questioning when they first noticed it, Winter said it was meant to cloak the island so that no one would be able to see it.

Now, Cantrelle and Adrian were in the grass, resting after a long day, Winter and Crystal were sitting around the pond, and others were either resting or attempting to make their way around the island.

When Azura noticed Fame, who refused to rest due to trust issues with being around so many people, she walked over to him, a grin already plastered onto her face. "Hey," she said, greeting him.

He was on his bedroll, but he had requested that he be distanced a bit from everyone. Unfortunately Winter had said that they needed to get used to be close with their teammates so she hadn't let Adrian do so. So, he found himself with a sleeping Gabe on one side and some kid with fox ears on the other, though the kid with fox ears was completely concerned with the girl who was beside him. Fame tossed his hair out of his eyes and gave her an unamused look.

"You know, Monk and Coyote made it... So if they pass the exam, you'll be the only one who's not S-class on our team," she teased.

"Psh. I can still take all of you," Fame retorted, rolling his eyes. He had already realized what she had pointed out and it bothered him to a small extent. He knew he wasn't going to hear the end of it for a while, if Coyote and Monk made it.

"Whatever," Azura said, rolling her own eyes. She sat in front of him, crossing her legs. "So... About that wound on your shoulder. The boy who's taking care of everyone seemed pretty bothered by it. You should unwrap it and show it to me," she said, grinning. She didn't like to admit her teammates' strength, but she knew that Fame could stand up to the massive fights they got into, so the person who faced must have been really strong. "Who did you face, anyway?"

"I'm not doing that. I would need help wrapping it, which would mean more physical contact, which is a negative," Fame said, flipping his hair. "And I faced a chick with dark blue hair, weird eyes and a scythe. She used magic dragon slaying magic," he explained.

"Oh, no wonder you lost. I'm surprised you're alive," Azura said, her eyes scanning the area for Ice, who had distanced herself on the other side of the pond, Cross at her side. That made her think, where were their Exceeds? "Artemis?" she called, after glancing around and not seeing her cat-like partner.

Fame's eyes widened when she said her Exceed's name. Nikko! "Oi, Nikko!" he called, looking around for his Exceed. He knew something was off, but when he came out, he was too annoyed with having to be bandaged up and stuff to realize it.

"That's not good," Azura growled when neither Exceed answered them.

"Are your Exceed's missing, too?" Stark asked, walking over to the two. "Lillay is missing Izzy, I think, and I can't find Terra, either," he explained, worry in his eyes. He had regained enough strength to walk around with relative ease and he had been looking for the Exceeds. He had noticed when Izzy didn't rush to the unconscious Lillay's side. It wasn't uncommon for Terra to want some time away from him, so he hadn't thought of it when he first emerged from the caves.

"We should go ask Cross," Azura said. She figured that the Exceeds would have grouped together while their partners were gone.

Fame started to struggle to his feet, using his hands as little as possible, when Adrian ran up to him, seeming alert to whenever any of the injured mages tried to move. "You really need to rest," he said, worry in his eyes as he placed a hand on Fame's uninjured shoulder.

Fame slapped his hand away. "I'm fine," he groaned, finally pushing himself to his feet and wobbling. He was shirtless and shoe-less, but he hadn't really realized the second one until he withdrew his feet from the bedroll, noticing black and blue striped socks. "Where the hell are my shoes?" he asked.

"Sorry," Adrian said, dashing back to Fame's tent and then returning with his shoes. "We removed the shoes of the ones who are lying down because we figured they wouldn't want them in their bedrolls," he explained.

"Whatever," Fame said, taking them and slipping them on, struggling since he couldn't use his hands.

"Hah," Azura laughed. "You need help with your shoes," she said.

"Would you like me to help?" Adrian said, even though it seemed like an odd thing to help with.

"No. Go away," Fame snapped, glaring at Adrian. Overly nice people like him were Fame's least favorite type of person.

"O-okay," Adrian said, returning to his spot in the grass, but deciding that he would watch over the trio.

Stark eyes went to Lillay, only to find that she hadn't even woken up yet. Chances were she wouldn't have the energy to help them search, so it was just going to be them. He wasn't really okay with working with Fame, but if it meant the safety of Terra, he would be mature about it, maybe. "Sparky, you really are beat up, aren't you?" he said, smirking.

"Piss off, Rock-brains," Fame responded lowly, flipping his hair as he finally succeeded on in getting his shoes on without having to untie them or use his hands.

"You two know each other well?" Azura asked.

"Hate him," Stark and Fame said in unison, glaring at each other.

Azura blinked and smirked. When they were in better condition, it would be nice to see them fight. She led them over to Ice and Cross, who both gave them looks that said they didn't want to be bothered.

"Hey, Cross," Azura started. "Have you seen the other Exceeds?" she asked.

Cross gave them a curious look. "No. I had no interest in associating with them," she responded. "Are they missing?" she asked.

"Yeah," Azura responded, her eyes dropping.

"We'll have to look for them," Stark said, a bit hurt by the fact that Cross didn't know anything.

"I couldn't help but to overhear your conversation," Winter said, appearing behind them.

"Do you know something, Obaachan?" Azura asked, her face brightening up.

"Unfortunately I do not. They probably just went to explore," Winter spoke honestly. She hadn't been keeping a close eye on the Exceeds, figuring that they would just wait around for their partners. She knew that no one could get on the island so they weren't in danger, though. "Why don't you let Ice come with you to find them?"

"I have no interest in that," Ice responded in a flat voice.

"I say that you do," Winter said, her eyes flashing with annoyance. "I want everyone on this island to make friends with their guildmates on this trip, and that includes you. Now, you will go help them search and if they talk to you, you will respond," she said.

Ice glared at Winter, but sighed. "Fine," she said, her respect for Winter once again winning her over, which was the only reason that she was on the island in the first place.

"Is it really a good thing to make me work with the person who I just fought?" Fame asked, giving Winter his own glare.

"You'll be fine. I'm sure with your antisocial natures, you'll be best friends," Winter said, smiling. And with that, she walked away.

"That's not how it works at all," Fame hissed, flipping his hair away from his face. "If we both hate people, chances are we're gonna hate each other, too..."

"Oh, well... Welcome to our little team, Ice," Azura said, grinning. "And you, too, Cross," she added.

"We will not be working with you after this time," Cross pointed out.

"Whatever, let's go search for the Exceeds!" Azura announced, determination in her eyes.

All of them were beat up: Fame had the wound in his shoulder and the wounds on his hands and he was extremely low on magic; Ice was covered in burn marks from Fame's electricity and she had bruises on her sides from being punched and kicked; Stark had the wounds all over his abdomen and his entire body was covered in bruises; Azura's face was swollen and bruises dotted her body, too. However, the three with missing Exceeds were more than willing to work together long enough to find their Exceeds, and Ice and Cross were just ready to hurry and get this small mission over with.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Okay~ I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It was fun for me to write. It seems really long because of the amount of dialogue that's in it. Anyway, we're down to four teams in trial two! And we have the case of the missing Exceeds. As for the other characters, you'll just have to wait and see. Remember, the times of the "At the camp..." parts may not be synced with the "In the caverns..." part. :U Until next time, hope you enjoyed and leave a review if you want!

**Review Responses:**

Thank you as always for reviewing! Lots of loves from me. :D

**La Maitresse' Dame - **You will have to wait and see how the battles go! :D I'm glad you seem to like the fact that she is very slowly warming up to him. I shall keep it slow, though, because it just works better that way~ I'm happy that you seemed to like the chapter! :D I hope you liked the little part with Kai and Marionette in it. Expect to see more of them, soon. :)

**LilTimy - **I'm glad you're not that upset that he lost. You may still see more with him and Fame working together. Like, I may do something where he, Kimi, Ikaros, Fame and possibly Jared go on a mission together or something. :)

**Junior the Otaku - ** Sorry about you falling behind, but you're caught up now! :D I like writing fluff. XD There will be lots in this story. XD I'm really happy that you enjoyed the battles. I tried my best when writing them. :)

**Rin Ice Miyako - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the fight. I hope you enjoyed what role I've given Ice for the time being. She's forced to socialize and is on a sort of mini-mission on the island.

**shadowssj12 - **I'm really glad that you're enjoying the story so much. Hopefully I will continue to impress with it~ :D I'd love to have readers at the end of it so that I can make a sequel of some sort. :)

**Nicky Azure -** Yeah, a lot of the mages are getting ready for that because it's not actually that far away. Just a filler-ish arc to get to know the characters better and further develop some relationships and then a tiny arc that I will use as a way for me to wrap up voting cleanly. :D And the rest of this arc, of course.

**FairyTailWolf6 - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter, and yes, Kai still has a long way to go, as obvious by this chapter. XD

**Barrett M107 - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter! I've recorded your vote in my documents! :D


	22. Chapter 21

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ Hope you enjoy the chapters as always. Anndd... I have some notices. So this A/N is long. Sorry.

****Notices regarding what I told some of you about arcs in the story and whatnot. You should read this if wanna know stuff about the story progression.****

First off... So many of you are anticipating the GMGs and that's fine... However, to make up for that, I have shortened the arc that is going to be after the S-class exams. If you gave me an idea and I said it would be in the next arc, then I will be putting it in the next arc as I am a person of my word. However, it will not be a long arc and more of a mini-arc instead.

Regarding the GMGs, I want to be going into them by the time I start back to college. I move to college in two weeks, so within the next 15-ish chapters, I think this would be suited because the GMGs are going to require an incredible amount of planning to make it flow smoothly without any confusion as to what guilds have what number of points. I won't have internet access right away in college-probably for a week T_T - so I'll be able to take that time to write a couple of chapters and get some planning done. On top of that, I can take a notebook with me to class and plan stuff or make rough drafts of chapters instead of listening to stupid Biology lectures. DX Long story short, after I get settled into college, I'll be uploading stuff regarding GMGs, or at least have the GMGs planned out.

With this... **Voting will close on August 14th**. That will give you guys time to vote. I know I said it would be closing in the middle of the arc before the GMGs, but I want to plan the GMGs while in class and while without internet, so I have to change it.

*****BECAUSE I HAD PEOPLE SAYING A POLL WOULD BE EASIER, THERE IS NOW A POLL ON MY PROFILE. PLEASE, RECAST YOUR VOTE ON THE POLL!*****

If it turns out that I have less unique voters on the poll than in my documents, I will go with the votes that I originally put in my documents.

Lastly... Not regarding the GMGs but instead the arcs in general. With the shortening of the arc after this, I have added in another arc after the GMGs that will have canon character interactions, history of the guild and as always, battles and relationship development. :)

I've told a lot of you this, but I'm aiming for 100 chapters for this fic. I'm sure it will end up being at least 60, but I'm aiming for 100. I also want to do a sequel or sequels since I have a couple of ideas in mind and I want those to be long, too. :D I'm basically aiming to dive into each character's past and make them have strong relationships developed by the end of this fic. :) I've also got the small goal set up finishing this fic over Winter break, so before the second week in January, but that may not happen if my semester turns out too hard. I already know that I have to write 1,000-10,000 words a week on boring subjects for my Literature class, so yeah. X_X When I'm on breaks, I should be able to write a chapter a day as I do now, if I don't get homework over the breaks.

That's all. After over 500 words of Author's note. X_X Sorry, guys. Just wanted clear everything up.

* * *

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

**At the camp...**

It was now night and Winter had gotten Yuki to lend her a hand in starting a bonfire, since that didn't require much magic for him to do. Now, most people had awoken, and she had gotten Adrian to help arrange everyone who couldn't move well so that they were sitting in a circle around the fire. She had then asked Crystal to place a lacrima wall around them so that they would have to spend time together, apart from the griffins that were searching for the Exceeds.

"How are we supposed to clean ourselves?" Adrian asked. He had changed clothing to a gray sweater and dark green sweatpants with gray stripes running down the legs. He had removed his scarf, but he still had his bracelet on. He still felt dirty, though. He was also worried about those with wounds, since not bathing properly would make them worse.

Winter laughed lightly. "In the pond, of course!" she said, laughter in her voice.

Everyone's faces went white and their eyes lost their shine.

"Erm, you have to be joking, right?" Danny asked, blushing. He was sitting on his bedroll, his shirt removed and his body bandaged. Lillay was at his side, resting her head on his shoulder, appearing just as bandaged as he was, though he didn't have as many bruises as her.

"Yeah, seriously!" Lillay said, the side of her face that wasn't badly bruised turning bright red. She said so in a serious voice, but her eyes reflected that she wasn't even interested in the conversation. When she had woken up, Danny had informed her that the Exceeds were missing and that a group of mages had went off to look for them. She wanted to go and look for them, too, but both Danny and Adrian had requested that she spend some time resting and informed her that the mages that were looking for them were perfectly capable of finding them.

"Winter-obaachan, I-I don't want to bathe in front of people!" Cantrelle whined. She was leaning against one of Adrian's shoulders, Sharon on the other shoulder.

Winter let the uproar go on for a moment more before she laughed again. "You guys need to learn that I joke," she said, laughing.

"I wouldn't mind it," Leo said, flashing a grin specifically at Gwen, his eyes sparkling playfully.

Gwen's face turned a dark shade of red. She was still sick, but her eyes had mostly returned to normal and she wasn't sweating anymore because Nezuko had remembered to stock up on her medicine. Now, the girl was sitting in between Nezuko and Leo.

Nezuko shot him a hateful glare. "Watch it," she said lowly.

Winter chuckled at their banter. "There are some hot springs in one of the caves," she started. "I guess I forgot to mention it, but Crystal and I need to find some way to segregate it and need to put up some kind of wall so that there will be privacy," she said. "We'll work on that soon. Right now is family time."

Crystal snorted. "Why do you insist on this?"

"No one seems to mind," Winter said, smiling at the group.

It was true, though. Most of the antisocial griffins were either taking on trial two or searching for the Exceeds. Right now, no one seemed to mind the bonfire: Yuki and Sara were sitting together with just a bit of distance between them; Gabe and Ikaros were together; Gwen, Leo, Nezuko, Emery and Eira were sitting together, Nezuko and Emery keeping a watchful eye on Leo and Gwen; Lillay and Danny were together; Sharon, Adrian and Cantrelle were sitting together.

While many of them were still quite beat up and some of them probably couldn't even stand, they all seemed cheerful.

"I think it's a really nice idea," Sara said, smiling. She wanted to lean her head on Yuki's shoulders and some were doing to their guy friends, but it just seemed too intimate, and the thought embarrassed her.

"The bonfire's awesome, isn't it?" Yuki asked, grinning at her.

She blushed and nodded sheepishly.

"It's relaxing," Sharon said, yawning and leaning heavily against Adrian, who had to re-position himself so that he didn't fall over on Cantrelle. She was tired and she had napped randomly, but now she was awake and finding out that Adrian made an excellent pillow.

Emery silently agreed with Sharon, though she didn't say anything. She wasn't really much of a social person and would have preferred to find her own little clearing and make a few flowers grow or something, but at least she did have a couple of people around that she was close to.

Eira was silent as well. She didn't really have anything to say. She felt better about her situation since she had talked to Stark and she was slightly worried about him and hoped that he found Terra, since she knew that the Exceed meant the world to him.

"Winter, do you get the cake that you promised?" Ikaros asked. She had been watching the bonfire with Gabe's arm wrapped lightly around her, but the thought had just crossed her mind.

Winter laughed.

"Huh?" Gabe looked to Ikaros and then to Winter.

"I knew that Ikaros doesn't hold her title that highly, so I offered her an alternative reward if she did the best that she could," Winter said. She then turned to Ikaros. "I will give you the cake when we get to the guild hall."

"If I would have been offered something like a large shopping budget, I may have actually won my battle," Sharon said, though the lazy tone of her voice showed that she didn't really care that much. In the end, it was probably better for her to be beaten, since that would mean more S-class wizards the guild, possibly.

Danny tried to think of something that would have made him perform better, but in the end, he just hated fighting his comrades. "Erm... Winter... I would prefer to not participate in this next year... I-I don't think I care if I lose my title..." he said.

"You did fine, though," Leo said, his eyes widening at Danny's words.

"Yeah... I hate myself for it, though," Danny admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "I really hurt Gwen, even if it was on accident..."

Crystal snorted. "What a terrible mage you make, with your soft heart..." she mumbled.

Lillay felt Danny stiffen at her words and she grabbed one of his hands to try to comfort him silently.

"Danny is a fine mage," Winter retorted. "You don't have to, but you will have to come to the island to be with the guild as an S-class mage," she said.

"Do I have to participate?" Ikaros asked curiously. She didn't really see the point in any of this.

"If you want more cake, you do," Winter responded. She knew there was nothing to entice Danny like there was for Ikaros, so she wasn't going to bother trying to convince him.

"Oh, okay," Ikaros said, smiling.

Gabe found himself laughing at her.

Winter smiled. They were all okay and they all seemed fine with being around each other. All she needed to do now was wait for trial two to end and for the Exceed search party to come back and she would have her family around her.

* * *

**In the caves...**

"So... Where the hell do you think we're supposed to go?" Monk asked, turning to Coyote. They had been wondering around the caves for what seemed like a few hours now and they had come to one dead end and picked up one supply kit that was in the form of a simple backpack, which Monk had on his back, since Coyote had a wound on his back. The bag contained two canteens of water, two boxed lunches and a vial of disinfectant ointment which they had already put on Coyote's wounds.

"I don't know," Coyote growled. He was getting so frustrated with this. On top of that, he could feel himself getting low on magic, finally, and he was tired. He would be perfectly fine with finding somewhere to sleep. Then again, the magic that was taking their magic would preventing him from sleeping.

"This really isn't an easy trial," Monk sighed. He, too, was getting low on magic and if they were in the caves much longer, he wouldn't be able to stand a fight if they ran into one of the other teams.

"Dammit!" Coyote hissed as they turned down a corridor and found themselves at another dead end. This one didn't even have a supply kit in it. He wanted to just punch one of the walls down. He was pretty sure that there would be something beyond them. Why couldn't he just punch through the ceiling and then climb to the top, since they were supposed to be heading to the top anyway? It actually sounded like a good idea.

"What are you plotting?" Monk asked, seeing the thoughts dance across Coyote's eyes as the male stopped and folded his arms across his chest.

"Punching through the ceiling to get the hell out of here," Coyote responded.

"You wanna quit the trial?!" Monk asked, astonishment in his voice as he didn't fully comprehend what the other mage had said.

"No, you dumbass!" Coyote snapped, a vein swelling in his forehead as he shot daggers through Monk with his eyes. "We're supposed to be going up... So why not just bash through the floors and climb up?"

"That's brilliant!" Monk said, grinning. He looked up at the ceiling, which was stone with a crystal for lighting jutting out every so often. He didn't see any reason why it wouldn't work. "Do you want me to bless you?" he asked, his hands already clapped together under his chin.

"No, don't waste your magic," Coyote responded. "I can do this with just my magic," he said. With that, some of his tattoos began to glow and he jumped into the air, slamming his fist into the ceiling, rolling in the air to avoid the chunks of the ceiling that fell. He smirked, proud of his power and landed on the other side of the pile of rubble.

"Hell yeah!" Monk cheered. With that, he jumped again the wall and launched himself off of it to get up to the hole, grabbing the edges and quickly pulling himself up to the next floor of the caverns.

Coyote followed him, walking to the top of the pile of rubble and jumping straight up to grab a ledge and pull himself up.

They found themselves in a large cavern with three entrances, all of which became blocked by barriers when they were both in the room. There was another backpack against one of the walls.

Coyote felt the magic that had been draining him lift and he realized what was going on. The ceiling was coated in lavender colored lacrima and he wasn't sure if he would be able to break through it, besides, it was a big jump, too.

"Looks like we're gonna have to fight someone soon." Monk said, grinning. He was up for another battle. Sure, they were low on magic, but surely whoever they would have to fight would be in the same condition, so it would be an awesome fight with not as much magic being used, and he was looking forward to it. That is, if they didn't just end up waiting the entire time instead.

Coyote walked over and grabbed the backpack, sitting down and peering into it. Inside, there were four water bottles and four boxed lunches, as well as more ointment, which they currently didn't need.

* * *

**Meanwhile...**

"Winter-obaachan's magic is really mean," Kimi spoke as she and Jared wondered around the caves. They hadn't found any kind of supply pack and they had come to quite a few dead-ends. The pink mage would feel as they were getting nowhere if it wasn't for the fact that they had found two paths that led them up and they had been told that the exit was at the top, so maybe they were making some progress. Kimi didn't want to say anything, but she was starting to feel the effects to the guild master's magic pretty strongly. She had used so mo magic in the previous trial. She was strong, though, and if she had to, she would just fight with a bit of magic in her staff, if they had to battle.

Jared glanced over at her through the corner of his eye. She still looked fine, but he knew that her words hinted at the fact that she was starting to become tired. He was tired, too, but there was no way to rest unless they found one of the battle caverns; even then, if they happened upon another team, would they be able to beat them? They had gotten the unfortunate end of the stick of having to face one hundred monsters, so they were both in pretty bad condition.

Kimi didn't like the silence. The only thing she could hear was the sound of their shoes against the dirt flooring and it was making her feel even more hopeless than she actually felt. So, even though she knew that they probably needed to concentrate on finding some way out of the cave, she began to talk. "You know, you should cook with me sometime~" she said, looking over at Jared.

"Hm?" Jared looked to her and his eyes shifted. "I don't think I'd do much other than get in the way," he said, blushing slightly. "Don't you have that tiny girl that you cook with?" he asked, recalling having seen her with a tiny girl who was actually an S-class mage.

"Ikaros-chan~?" Kimi asked, giggling. "Yeah, but I'd like to have you around a lot, too," she said, twirling around and frowning. When Jared arched a brow in question, she smiled. "It's not as fun to twirl without ruffly skirts on," she said, patting her shorts.

"Why do you do that?" he asked, trying to steer the conversation away from him before it progressed.

Kimi twirled again, but this time, she ended with a bow. "I was a stage magician when I was a kid," she responded. "My magic wasn't meant to hurt, but to be pretty, and as such, I think of battles as putting on a show." She then added. "I developed the habit of twirling. I used to announce my attacks in a stage-like manner and sing and stuff, but I stopped that over the years."

"That's why you're so flashy," Jared said, smiling. He could see her doing stage magic.

"I still do shows sometimes," she said. "Well... Not very much since I formed a team with Mistere-chan and Hikari-chan, but I know how to make my magic not damage people, still. I bet your magic would be really pretty as stage magic~"

"I... Don't have the personality for something like that," he said, a drop of sweat forming on his forehead. He couldn't see him doing something where all eyes would be on him like that. "I'd like to see you perform one day, though," he said, once again steering the conversation from himself.

"How did you learn your magic?" Kimi asked. She wasn't dense, even though her bubbly attitude left that impression sometimes. She knew was Jared was doing. He almost always did this when she tried to talk to him.

"...Books..." he answered quietly.

"You like to read?" Kimi asked, tilting her head. "I can't really read for enjoyment..." she said, laughing lightly. "I usually can't sit still for more than thirty minutes or so unless I'm tired," she said.

Jared nodded in response to her question. They were opposites. In every way. Why did she hang around him so much? He still pictured her with someone who had a sunnier personality, but she didn't seem to want to leave him alone.

"This path goes up!" Kimi said once they got to a fork in the tunnels and stopped. It was hard to see much further in the tunnels when one looked down them because the lacrima began to glow when people got close to them. However, the tunnel that Kimi pointed to did seem to arch upwards.

"I think it'd be safe to go that way," Jared said, shrugging. He didn't find any reason to argue against it and they were told to go up, so he followed behind Kimi, walking just a bit slower than her.

The path that they took wound upwards and when it finally stopped going up, they found themselves in a large cabin. There was a faint ping as barriers covered the way that they had come and the other exits in the room.

"Um..." Kimi's eyes reflected worry as she looked around. "Do.. Do you think this one of those special caverns?" she asked, turning back to him with her brows furrowed.

"I think..." Jared answered. He saw a supply back against the wall and walked over to it, opening it to find four bottles of water, four box lunches and a vial of ointment, which they really didn't need since they didn't have any open wounds apart from a few scratches.

"I think we should just eat and wait~" Kimi said, the normal, cheery sparkle returning to her eyes. She

"Sure..." Jared said. Once again, he didn't have any reason to argue because what else were they supposed to do? Then again, maybe this was a good thing. If he could get a few hours of rest, he would have a good percentage of his magic back, and then they would be able to fight with no problem.

* * *

**Meanwhile...**

Hikari let out a groan of frustration as they came to another dead-end. This was the fourth one that they had managed to come to, and the second one that didn't have a supply kit in it. Both of the girls had backpacks now and both of them had a bottle of water in their hands. The first couple of dead-ends didn't bother her at all because they had been informed that things like that would happen, but now, she was pretty sure that it was getting really late, and she had been awake since early morning, since she wanted to make sure that she packed everything. She just wanted to have a relaxing shower and sleep, neither of which was going to happen any time soon. She wasn't low on magic anymore, since she scooped up dirt and ate it every time she started to feel weak, but she could only imagine how Mistere was feeling.

"I don't like this trial," Mistere admitted once they had turned back and started walking the way that they had come. She was starting to feel quite weak. Her magic didn't take long to recover and she was kinda hoping that they would find one of the battle caverns that were empty just so that they could sit down and eat.

"If there is anyone still left in the caves that likes this trial, then they're probably insane," Hikari huffed. Her eyes scanned the area as she tried to think of which paths that had taken.

"I don't think we've been this way," Mistere pointed out as they passed a narrow path that they would have to follow behind each other to fit.

"Okay," Hikari agreed, following behind Mistere as they walked. "Hey, Mistere," she started. When she heard a small "Hm?" from her friend, she started to speak more. "Are you doing okay?" she asked.

"I guess," Mistere answered. She was a bit envious of Hikari's ability to replenish her magic on the dirt. There was no way like that for her to replenish her magic.

Hikari decided that the best course of action would be to try to talk to occupy their minds some. "Why did you join the guild?"

Mistere's eyes widened. She knew that it was only a matter of time before she heard that question from Hikari or Kimi, but she really didn't want to give much of her past away. Her eyes dropped and she didn't respond right away.

"Oh, if you don't wanna answer something like that, it's okay," Hikari added quickly when she heard the silence from her teammate.

"Oh, no... It's fine," Mistere eventually responded. "To be honest... I have no real reason for joining a guild. I just didn't have anywhere else to go," she said.

"Hm," Hikari responded. "I know how that is. I think that's one of the main reasons that I joined. I was a street violinist before I joined the guild, and while it did make some money, I think being in a guild makes a good bit more."

With the mention of money, Mistere' eyes twitched. "Wait... Did Winter say that we were going to be on the island for a month?" she asked.

"Yeah," Hikari said, confusion in her voice. She then realized what Mistere must be getting at. "We... We can't pay our rent if we're on the island... We can't make money to pay the rent!"

Mistere frowned. Her problem wasn't getting the money. She was pretty sure her landlord didn't have access to her savings, and if that was the case, there was no way to get the money to them. "We'll have to ask Winter about that when we finally get out of here," she mumbled under her breath.

They stopped talking for a moment and then looked around as they emerged from the narrow path in a cavern. Mistere was happy at first, until her eyes landed on the other team, who was sitting against the wall, obviously resting.

"Looks like we're about to have to fight," Hikari said. Normally, she would looking forward to a nice fight, but she was worried about her teammate. They would make it through somehow, though.

* * *

**Meanwhile...**

"It has to be late night by now," Marionette mumbled under voice, not even trying to hide the frustration that was present. They had been wondering around the caves for what seemed like forever. They had managed to pick up one supply kit, though they had each drained one of the two water bottles that were in it. The blonde light mage had already lost every bit of her patience and she wasn't even bothering to hide her moodiness.

Kai thought it was cute, though, even though he wasn't up for challenging the mean side of her. With her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed, she looked absolutely adorable to him. He wasn't really that impatient and besides, Winter had told them to travel upwards and he felt as if they had been doing a fairly decent job of doing so. However, he understood where Marionette's patience issues were coming from. His mind and body were screaming at him that it was late and he needed to sleep, but there was no way to unless they happened upon one of the empty battle caverns. "You know, we're makin' some progress," he said, trying to comfort his partner.

Marionette turned and shot him a glare over her shoulder, but after a moment, she calmed down a bit. "You MAY be right, but it does not change the fact that is absolutely troublesome and I am just ready to get this trial over with!" she explained, folding her arms across her chest. She didn't like this maze, she didn't like the fact that she was losing magic, she didn't like the fact that she wanted sleep so much. She was just irritable for that moment.

"We'll be okay. We'll make it out," Kai said, grinning at her in attempt to cheer her up. Not that he had gotten to the point in their relationship where his smile actually brightened her day or anything. He still thought that responding to her anger with cheeriness was the best thing to do, though. He looked around and grinned when they came to a path that seemed to arch upward. Even though the lacrima didn't light up until someone was near them, all either of them had to do was pulse a bit of magic into their finger to create a nice flashlight, so finding the right paths wasn't much of an issue for the team of light mages. "See, we're still making lots of progress!" he said.

"Excellent," Marionette huffed, following behind him. She wondered if they would be the lucky ones and not have to fight anyone in the second trial. However, her wondering was cut short.

After few minutes of walking, they found themselves in one of the caverns and at first, they both felt relieved. That was until their eyes landed on the mages that were already in the room.

* * *

**With the Exceed Search Party...**

Night had long since fallen, but it wasn't hard to see on the island since the moon was so close and a lot of the lacrima that were around the entrances of the caverns still glowed.

Azura found herself wondering if she should heal her team since there was a small possibility that they would have to fight. Having to heal so many people would take too much magic, but she could at least help them out some. She decided that it was the best course of action. "Hey," she said, stopping.

Fame, Stark, Ice and Cross stopped as well.

"I've got a kinda bad feeling about this entire situation... Erm... I'm gonna try to heal you three and myself a little bit so that we'll all be able to fight if we need to," Azura explained.

"This island is cloaked and protected," Stark started. "How could something bad happen, really?"

"It happened to Fairy Tail, didn't it?" Fame retorted, tossing his hair of his eyes.

"I also feel as though something bad may happen," Cross said. There were numbers dancing across her large eyes.

Fame started to ask what was going on with her, but decided that it was probably some kind of weird magic and that it really didn't matter to him anyway.

"Okay," Azura ignored Stark's questioning since Fame and Cross were on her side and held up her arms to the moon. "Lunar Moonlight!" she called. With that, moonlight shot down into her, making her glow. When she brought her arms down, the beams of radiant light shot into Fame, Stark and Ice. When the spell was finished, Azura was breathing heavily, but she felt as though she still had enough magic left to fight if needed.

"Thanks," Fame said, though there wasn't really that much emotion in his voice. He knew about Azura's lunar powers, but he also knew that she didn't use them that much so he often times forgot about them.

"Yeah, that was awesome!" Stark commented. He felt better, and he could feel that the wounds on his stomach had healed a great deal. The bruises that covered his body were now blue and yellow in color instead of the deep purple and black that they had previously been.

"Hm," Ice let out a small snort, which was her way of thanking the other girl. Her burns were almost gone now, since she was a fast healer anyway.

"Do you think that there any possibilities that they are in the caves somehow?" Azura asked once they began to walk again. This was her main concern, really. She had no doubt that the team she was with would be able to eliminate any trouble from the islands, but they couldn't get into the caves without breaking through the barriers, which they may not be strong enough to do since they were made from Winter's and Crystal's magics, or breaking through the roof of one of the caverns. Either way, doing so would make them risk ruining the exam for someone, which would be rude.

"No," Ice answered, her eyes scanning the area, though they weren't really focused on the area necessarily.

Fame could have sworn that he saw the numbers in her eyes this time and he wondered what the hell was going on. He still didn't bother to ask, though. "Where the hell do you think that we should go, then?" he asked, his voice just oozing with a mix of sarcasm and hatred. It wasn't that he was upset from being beaten; he wasn't a sore loser, really, but he did not like the girl's attitude one bit.

Ice didn't even bother to spare him a glance. "Something... Magic... Blocking... Magic," she explained in as few words as possible as the numbers that were dancing against her eyes and Cross' eyes disappeared.

"I didn't have a problem using my magic," Azura pointed out.

Fame made his arm spark, feeling no problem with it. "I don't have a problem, either."

Stark coated his fist with stone. "Nope, no problems here."

Cross frowned, the scenario worrying her.

Ice scowled. "My magic... Only," she hissed under her breath. She even attempted to coat her fist with magic, only to find that she couldn't.

At that point, Cross' wings disappeared and she fell, bouncing off of Ice's shoulders and hitting the ground. "Me, too," she sighed, standing up and dusting off, her frown turning to a scowl.

"This isn't good," Stark mumbled under his breath. If they could block Ice's magic, then chances were that they could block all of their magics if they wanted to.

"We need to put more speed into our searching," Azura said. "If not, then there's a possibility that they could tamper with the exams, and I don't want the exams to be called off."

"Not their intentions," Ice mumbled.

"How would you know?" Fame snapped.

"Magic," Ice responded. "Before it was blocked," she added.

"Do you know their intentions, then?" Azura asked.

Ice shook her head. "They blocked my magic," she reminded her. She couldn't even summon her scythe. She was becoming antsy. She did not want to be shown as useless in a fight.

They walked around the caverns to where they were furthest away from the camp, but before they could do anything, water rushed around them, slamming them together and then locking them in a giant aquatic sphere.

Azura instantly realized that they were trapped when she boosted off of Fame's legs and slammed into the wall of the sphere, not even fazing the watery wall.. No air. No escape. Not good.

Stark wasn't a swimmer. He found himself struggling to keep himself stable like the other mages. They didn't have a water mage in the guild. Well, Ice could do some things with water, but wasn't her magic disabled? His eyes turned to her to see that she was attempting to get out of the sphere. It wasn't her.

Fame instantly turned his Mp3 player off, just in time to not shock everyone in the water. He looked around, but he couldn't see anything from beyond the sphere. His eyes were also starting to burn really bad, which made him want to close them.

Cross and Ice couldn't even communicate telepathically like usual, since it was a form of magic. Cross wondered why Ice didn't just eat the water since she was good with ice and water manipulation. She swam over to her partner, who was floating against one wall of the sphere, glaring. She tapped her on the shoulder and when she had her attention, she gave her a questioning look.

Ice shook her head, knowing what was on Cross' mind. Though she couldn't say it, the water had a dash of poison magic in it. She needed to inform her team, but how?

"Haha! Four little griffins and an Exceed in my Serpent's Water Sphere, partial courtesy of the lovely Tori!" a male's voice sounded, though the griffins could barely hear it.

"If my magic serves me right, then it looks like we got some precious jewels... Should we add a bit more poison and take them to that old bat?" a female's voice purred. "It's not like she'll deny us what we want..."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Short chapter. Sorry. I didn't want to do any battles yet. So... Who do you think is facing who in the trials? Are you worried for the Exceed Search Party? Did you enjoy the chapter that's full of cliffhangers? Leave a review if you want! I do hope you enjoyed. Oh, and this is another chapter where everyone appeared! :D

**PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO VOTE ON THE POLL ON MY PROFILE! I'LL BE CLOSING IT AUGUST 14TH.**

**Review Responces**

Thanks for reviewing! Lots of loves from me as always!

**Hiragami Kotone - **I'm really happy that you enjoyed the chapter~ I hope this chapter was somewhat enjoyable, too! :D

**Lazyboredom - **I'm happy that you've enjoyed the past few chapters. :)

**La Maitresse' Dame - **I'm really happy that I'm doing a good job with the interactions between Marionette and Kai. The next chapter is going to be a bit random, and show every character on at least one mission, and going to be for relationship development. It's gonna be short, though. :)

**Rin Ice Miyako - **It will be revealed!:D

**shadowssj12 - **I needed a break from fights. X_X Next chapter will have them, though. :D I hope I have readers left to be able to go into a sequel, too. :)

**Nicky Azure - **I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter! Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter, too. :D


	23. Chapter 22

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ So sorry for the cliffhangers last time. XD Anyway, some of them will be filled in here.

*****REMEMBER TO VOTE ON THE POLL ON MY PROFILE, IF YOU PLAN ON VOTING, PLEASE?*****

* * *

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

**The Exceed Search Party...**

Just as the woman finished speaking, a bunch of snakes that were glowing appeared in the water and swam around the griffins. They were still trapped in the poisonous water sphere and all of them were already feeling the affects of being poisoned.

Ice glared. Her body was going numb. She could barely feel her right arm anymore. She was determined to fight, though. She kicked at the snakes, making a couple of them disappear. She could feel the numbness turning to pain that surged through the right side of her body. She wondered if it was poison magic or an actual poison. Either way, how were they supposed to cure it? Or would it wear off when the water disappeared?

Fame couldn't see out of his left eye anymore and had resulted in closing it and using only his right eye to watch the snakes. He couldn't use his magic in water; he would hurt his teammates if he did. On top of that, his bandages had come off and the wound on his shoulder, which hadn't completely healed even with Azura's help was burning. He looked at to see that it was turning purple with thin, purple lines spreading out from it. His arm and shoulder burned and his heartbeat was erratic in his head. Still, he kicked at the snakes, trying his best to fight, though every move was starting to cause him pain. He had to save Nikko, though.

Azura had lost the feeling in both of her legs and it was hard as hell for her to swim with this factor. She had removed New Moon from her back and was attempting to absorb the poison out of the water and fight the snakes, but every time she thought she was going to succeed, the snakes would open their mouths and shoot more venom into the water. She felt like she was getting nowhere fast. On top of that, she was losing her vision.

Stark's entire abdomen was screaming pain as the venom entered the open wounds on his stomach and entered his bloodstream. His bandages had come off, too, and he could see that his stomach was turning black with spider-web like lines all over it. He winced and placed a hand over his stomach, knowing that it wouldn't help much. He attempted to coat his other hand with stone, only to find that he couldn't. Was his magic disabled, too, now?

Cross's tiny body couldn't handle the poison. She attempted to swim over to Ice, everything about her feeling faint. She was wondering if this was what death was like and it scared her. She wanted to cling to Ice, but she was busy fighting. She could barely see and she was struggling to hold her breath.

Ice saw that Cross was struggling, and with the arm that she could barely feel, she grabbed the Exceed and held her to her chest, knowing that she had to be feeling the affects of the poison at least five times more than she was.

"Aww... They look so cute when they struggle," the woman giggled. She had long violet hair that fell to the middle of her back with bangs that covered her forehead in a straight line. She was busty and average height. Her pale eyes were hidden behind a simple masquerade mask that was made of snakeskin. She was dressed in a lavender, sleeveless lolita dress with lots of ruffles, lace, and a huge violet ribbon across the waist. She wore sleeves that didn't connect to her dress that were white with lavender lace on the ends and violet ribbons around the elbows. She wore white and lavender striped stocking and violet platform shoes. The dress short a good bit of cleavage and on the right side of her chest was a violet marking that was a tear, running down to form half of a heart.

"C'mon, we need them to live, Tori!" the boy growled. He was tall and pale, with a bit of muscles. His hair was bright aqua and smooth, framing his face and partially covering one of his emerald colored eyes. He was wearing a black kimono top with wide sleeves and cyan accents on it, gray, loose-legged pants and no shoes. The same guild mark was on his left shin, though his was aqua in color.

"Aw, Ocena-sama... We've got what we needed from them, though," the girl, Tori, whined. "We can always pretend their alive and get what else we need," the girl explained.

"Whatever, release your damn snakes so I can release my magic on them," the boy, Ocena, snapped. "And remember, we've been given orders not to kill anyone!"

"Fine," Tori pouted before making the snakes disappear.

Ocena lifted one arm and the sphere around them disappeared, all of the griffins falling to the ground.

They all gasped, taking in as much air as they could and squirming on the ground.

"I can't feel... Most of my body..." Azura groaned. It was becoming hard to even talk as her mouth was numb.

Fame coughed and glared with his open eye at the blood that came from his lungs and dripped from his mouth. "Damn... " he hissed.

Stark was in so much pain that he couldn't even move. He was in the fetal position, his body writhing with every tiny breath that he took.

Ice growled at them and despite the fact that she could barely feel anything, she climbed to her feet, her body glowing as she released two of the seals that controlled her magic, as opposed to the one that she normally released, glaring at the two. However, she could still feel no magic in her body.

"Ow, how cute~ You thought you could bypass my magic," the girl said, removing her mask and batting her eyelashes at Ice. She then walked over to Fame and Stark, who were both fighting the poison. "You know," she purred, dropping to her knees in between them. "If you two wanna become my little toys, I'll gladly give you the anti-venom and heal you," she said. It was a tactic to make her partner jealous, but the woman did have interest in the two griffins.

Stark only glared, while Fame faked a flirtatious smile. "Really...?" he purred back, his eyes flashing hungrily. For that moment, he pushed the pain out of his mind and tried to act normal, despite the fact that he had no vision in one of his eyes and his chest and lungs hurt like hell.

Tori found herself blushing, despite the fact that this was her act. Both of the griffin boys were even cuter up close, and she was flattered that one would even flirt with her.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Azura hissed, though her voice came out in a harsh whisper.

"...You know... I do like older women..." Fame continued to act, grabbing her hand. In his mind, he felt like vomiting; one, he didn't like older women-which the girl obviously was, two, the girl was ugly, three, he didn't flirt like this-he didn't even like to touch people. It was working, though. He could see a pouch at her side, and that's what he was after, though his eyes fluctuated between her cleavage and her eyes, trying to fake attraction to the woman.

Ice looked to Azura. "Let's fight him..." she said. She didn't trust Fame, but at least he was keeping the other girl distracted. She walked over to Azura and despite the fact that she hated physical contact, she helped the other girl up, grimacing as their skin touched.

Azura stood shakily, giving Fame one final glance. "...Is your magic back?" she asked. Her eyes also darted to Cross, who had been left unconscious on the ground.

"...No... But I can fight..." Ice responded. Cross was in bad condition; she had to fight.

"Oh, right... Where the hell are you, Haven?!" Ocena called behind him, glaring. He had noticed the Exceed on the ground and remembered how they were supposed to taunt the other mages to begin with.

Upon that, an Exceed pulling a rope as he flew appeared. This Exceed had dark brown fur, narrowed silver eyes, large, pointed ears that looked rugged with the right one ripped and the left one missing the tip. He had white wings and was dressed in a leather jacket and blue jeans. A dark blue, spiky mohawk jutted from in between his ear and he had black marks under his eyes that resembled eyeliner. "Yeah, yeah... I gotcha, bro," he mumbled. When he slung the rope forward, there were four Exceeds tied to it, all with ropes around their mouths so they couldn't scream.

"Artemis!" Azura screeched, seeing her small blue Exceed. "What the hell?!" she snapped at Ocena and Haven, stumbling forward.

"We gotcha Exceeds, sista, and I'ma make sure you don't hurt my man Ocena here," Haven spoke, smirking. With that, he pulled out a dagger and walked over to Artemis. "Ya know, if ya attack, I may jus' off her, sista."

Azura stepped forward and a small growl escaped her throat. When she realized that there was no way she could risk attacking when there was a dagger pressed to Artemis's throat, she sighed. "Please..." she eventually coughed out when the Exceed pressed the blade to Artemis's throat.

Fame continued to flirt, smirking when the girl leaned in closer. Fame lifted his hand and ran it down her back, stopping near the pouch. He rolled over and brought his other hand around her neck, bringing her down to his lips.

Tori felt her heart pounding. She loved Ocena, but this guy really seemed to know what he was doing. She could fall for him, if she was part of his guild. Besides, it wasn't like Ocena would ever love her; he might.

Fame brought his hand down to her chest as their lips touched and then purred, "Metal Lightning..." in a soft voice. With that, he pressed his hand in between her bosom, grabbed the pouch with his other hand, and despite how bad he was hurting and how hard it was to use magic, shocked her as much as he could. He then kneed her off of him and rolled to his feet, feeling sick from the act of faking an attraction to such a repulsive lady. He flipped his wet hair and after pulling out a syringe that had a small picture of the snakes that had attacked them on it, he ran over to Stark, injecting the medicine into him, since he seemed to be having problems even moving.

Tori was on the ground, her eyes widened, her body singed. That bastard!

Stark could instantly feel the antivenom's affects and he was back onto his feet within seconds, his head still spinning slightly and his body still numb and hurting at the same time. "Thanks, Sparky," he coughed, watching as the purple lines around his stomach began to reside.

Fame found another syringe with the same picture in the pouch and injected himself with it, gaining some of his strength back. His eyes narrowed, he then sprinted over to Azura and Ice, handing Azura one syringe and then handing Ice two.

"I knew you weren't being a manwhore," Azura smirked at Fame. She said in a joking manner, but she was really relieved. As she spoke, she injected herself with the syringe, regaining the feeling in her body for the most part. She noticed that Fame was still closing one of his eyes and wondered if it was a temporary habit or if he wasn't getting the sight back.

"Hm," Ice took the syringe, injected herself and then walked over to Cross, injecting her as well.

"You know, one syringe isn't enough. The grey diamond's venom is deadly," Tori said, finally standing up, her eyes narrowing in determination. She then pointed to Fame, her face flustered. "You're just terrible!"

"I've heard that plenty of times," Fame said, flipping his hair and smirking. "And who cares...? Five minutes would be enough time to destroy both of you."

"Psh," Ocena rolled his eyes. "God, people like you make me sick," he hissed. He then flipped his wrist and spheres of water surrounded the four Exceeds' heads. "Also, if you attack me or Tori, I'll let these four kitties drown."

"Ya see, bros and sistas... Ocena's not jokin'. We got a mission from da head lady and we ain't stoppin' to we get it done," Haven explained, dropping his dagger and folding his arms across his chest.

Stark stepped up beside the other three griffins and stone scales were covering his body. "Unless you wanna be in a world of pain, I suggest you let the Exceeds go, unless you think you're too weak to fight us," he snarled.

Fame stepped up, his body crackling with lightning. "If you think you're gonna hurt them, you better think again," he growled.

"Oh, please," Ocena threw his hands in the air. "Taunting me... You know, we don't ask for much. We've gotten a lot of what we need already. Just hear us out," he said. He then flicked his wrist and the spheres disappeared. Tori joined him by his side. "We're gonna send a copy of you four back to your camp and gonna interact shortly with the mages there. That's all we need to do... After that, we'll leave the island and you won't hear from us for a while, got it?"

"What the hell are you planning?!" Azura asked, scales coating her body, too, her teeth grinding together.

"Oh... Lord Banshee told me not to say that, but I can tell you one thing... We're NOT a dark guild. If you griffins attack us banshees, you will be targeted by the magic council," Ocena said, laughing lowly.

"You attacked us first!" Azura shouted, stepping forward.

"Oh, we just wanted to visit your little caverns... We just came to play," Tori said, laughing as well.

"Like hell," Fame and Stark snarled together.

"Well... Do you agree with us? We'll give you your Exceed friends back," Ocena spoke, folding his arms across his chest.

"Move quick," Azura mumbled under her breath.

Fame and Stark barely nodded their head.

"What?" Ocena heard her words, but he didn't have time to react before lightning was striking him and poison from New Moon was being sprayed into his eyes and Tori's eyes.

Stark slammed his first to the ground, calling, "Stone Dragon's Spikes!" as stone spikes erupted from the earth, hitting Ocena, Tori and Haven. His head spun when he used the attack, but he would fight until he passed out or died, if it was for Terra.

Ice moved quickly, elbowed Ocena in the back of the head, and kicked Tori in the face. She may not have her magic, but she had a fair amount of strength after taking the anti-venom.

"'Ey, Tori, my sis, ya should think 'bout gettin' us out of here," Haven said, climbing to his feet after being hit with a spike.

Tori nodded, rubbing her eyes. A violet magic circle appeared in front of her and she pulled out a sold black mask with a question mark on the forehead. She put it on. She then grabbed Ocena and Haven. "Mask magic: Mask of the Shadows," she called.

Within in an instant, they were gone. No trace of magic, nothing.

"What the hell? Did they just run?" Azura growled. However, her eyes then fell to the four Exceeds and she ran over, slashing away all of the rope with one quick motion with New Moon. "Artemis!" she breathed, pulling the Exceed into her arms.

"I was scared..." Artemis whined, returning her hug.

Stark ran and scooped up Terra, squeezing her to the point where her eyes were bulging. "I'm really sorry, Terra!" he cried, not letting go of her.

"Killing...Me...Moron..." Terra gasped, struggling for air. She was happy to see her partner, but she wasn't going to reveal that.

Fame ran forward and Nikko met him halfway, jumping into his arms. "You're okay, right?" Fame asked, leaning his face on the Exceed's head, running his hand over Nikko's gray fur.

"Y-Yeah," Nikko whimpered, though he was crying and clinging to Fame's shoulder.

Izzy cleared her throat. "Where is Lillay?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"She wasn't doing well when we left," Stark responded, loosening his grasp on the paling Terra.

Izzy's eyes widened. "What do you mean?" she asked, her wings appearing. "What happened?"

Azura smiled and walked over to the Exceed, placing her hand on the cat's head. "She's fine. I just gave her a run for her money in the exams," she said.

Izzy glared at Azura. "You better not have hurt her too bad," she mumbled.

"Ice, our magic has returned," Cross said, flying over to Ice. She had light purple, vein-like lines covering her body, but they seemed to be fading.

Ice blinked and let magic pulse from her hand, smiling ever-so-slightly.

The group began to walk back to the camp, talking as they did so.

"How many anti-venom doses are left?" Azura asked Fame. She recalled that Tori said that one dose wouldn't be enough to permanently cure the venom. She wondered how long they had before they started feeling the effects again.

Fame checked the pouch, which had a variety of different syringes stored in it, all held against the walls of the pouch by clothe straps. "One..." he responded after looking at all of the pictures that were on the syringes.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"You...You're poisoned still?" Artemis asked, her eyes widening as she stared at the mages.

"According to the woman," Azura responded.

"I think it's best to get back to the camp and tell Winter or something," Stark said. "Maybe someone on the medical team can reproduce the anti-venom or something."

"You're being mature for once?" Terra asked with her eyes wide.

Stark laughed at her.

"We need to find those assholes," Azura said.

"It would not be a good idea to do so... We do not know when the poison will act up again, if it actually does, and we do not know how fast it will take to kill us," Cross pointed out.

"I guess you're right," Azura mumbled, her eyes dropping to the ground.

* * *

**In the caves...**

Monk and Coyote had both dozed off after eating a meal in the cavern. They both acknowledged that that would be the best course of action to regain their magic in case they did end up having to fight one of the other teams. However, Monk opened his eyes when the sound of the barriers going away startled him. He groaned and wiped at his eyes. Had they really slept for two days? Surely not. Realizing that another team may be coming, or already hidden in the room, he tapped Coyote on the shoulder.

Coyote's eyes fluttered open and when he realized that the barriers were down, he was confused and the same thought that had crossed Monk's mind crossed his. He rubbed his face with his hands and then stood, glancing at Monk to see that he had stood as well. He took a step forward and his eyes narrowed when two people walked in.

"Looks like we got a fight," Monk said, grinning at the blonde haired woman and black haired man who stood in front of them .

"Tch," Coyote snarled at them, his tattoos already starting to glow. He didn't know how long they had slept, but he felt like he had most of his magic back.

_"They have had a chance to recover magic, it seems. We may be at a disadvantage," _Marionette spoke telepathically to Kai, her eyes narrowing. She was tired and really didn't know how much she was going to be able to stand up to a fight. She had no intentions of giving up, though.

_"We'll be fine, my queen," _Kai said, determination radiating from his body. He held his sword, though he didn't bother to use magic on it. _"We can always use our Unison Raid!" _

He was right. If all else failed, they could put the rest of their magic into a Unison Raid. As long as they didn't pass out, they could just rest in the cave afterwards, if Marionette's assumption was right.

Monk clapped his hands together under his chin and his eyes closed as he whispered, "Barah Rami," in a soft voice. He planned to give Coyote more blessings if he could get around to it.

Coyote's tattoos began to glow as he tapped into the souls of the gorilla, cheetah and rhino, boosting his strength twice and his speed. He embraced the blessing from Monk and grinned.

Monk kept his hands in place, but just as he suspected, he heard the swing of a sword and dodged Kai just in time, flipping in the air so that he punched the male light mage in the head.

Kai stumbled, but twisted around, swinging his sword and batting Monk out of the air, sending him to the ground.

Coyote targeted Marionette, dashing for her and throwing a fist at her.

Marionette was quick, though, even when she didn't have a large amount of magic. She dodged and shot behind Coyote, pulling the dagger that was hidden in her boot out and stabbing it between his collarbone and shoulder-blade. She had noted how Kai was trying to avoid using magic and she planned to do the same thing for as long as she could. Unfortunately, she didn't have an oversized sword like her partner did.

Monk activated his Fighter's Aura and rolled back, kicking Kai in the abdomen and tossing him forward before springing to his feet.

Kai used his sword to catch him, stabbing it into the ground as he fell and then flipping over it, pulling it out of the ground and shoving the flat end into Monk's back.

Coyote growled and pulled the dagger out of his shoulder, throwing it to the ground. He twisted around and attempted to kick Marionette in the side, caught off-guard when the quick blonde flipped over his leg and kicked him in face with the heel of her boot, causing him to stumble back.

"Light Magic: Dague!" she called, figuring that she had enough magic to use the simple spell without being in danger. A dagger made of pure light formed in her hand and she attempted to stab Coyote with it.

The animal mage recovered from her first attack, even though his lip was busted and his chin was bruised and as she attempted to stab him, he kneed her as hard as he could and then dropped his elbow over her back, slamming her to the ground and making her gasp in pain.

At the same time, Monk recovered from Kai's attack and threw a punch at him, his fist traveling fast.

Kai blocked the fist with his blade, his attention turning to Marionette. Seeing that she was on the ground, his eyes narrowed and almost in the blink of an eye, he was across the cavern, leaving a light clone to distract Monk for the moment. He jumped into the air and brought the flat part of his sword down on Coyote's shoulder, bringing him to his knees. He landed with his feet on either side of Marionette, protecting her as he thrust a light-covered fist into Coyote's jaw.

Coyote was knocked back by the powerful punch, crashing into the wall.

During that time, Kai pulled Marionette off of the ground and sat her on her feet. "I know you don't need protecting," he said, grinning at her when she glared at him.

Coyote bounced off of the wall after taking a second to recover and Kai found himself being his in the back by Monk's fist and in the side by Coyote's leg at the same time, blood spewing from his mouth as he was knocked off to side and hurled into the wall by the sheer power of the two close-combat specialists.

Marionette's eyes widened and she hopped backwards to avoid Monk and Coyote, though her eyes were on Kai as he slid down the wall, his eyes glazed as he struggled to stay conscious.

"Let's do this, Coyote!" Monk said, grinning.

Coyote snorted and both of the mages bolted towards Marionette, fist readied.

Marionette leaped into the air and her hands flew to her sides as she called, "Light Magic: Cadeau Du Ciel!" shooting a blinding light from her body. While the light was present, she ran to Kai, helping him up, though he seemed to be too out of it to stand properly. She saw blood covering his neck and looked at the wall to see that there was blood there, too. Grimacing, she tried to support him, making herself stay calm.

"Guh..." Kai winced, rubbing at his eyes. Every breath hurt; his head hurt. He thought at first that he had died when Marionette used her magic, but then he remembered that she could make blinding lights.

"Kai, get it together!" Marionette hissed, making her voice low to hide the worry in it. The light was starting to fade and when Marionette looked up, she already saw the silhouettes of their opponents. What was she going to do? Her eyes landed on Kai's broadsword and letting him support himself against her, she picked up the giant blade, surprised by its weight. How in the world did he carry this thing all the time? Oh, well. She'd had to use it. Flooding light magic into it and smiling when it worked with her magic. With that, she held it up and blocked both fists that were aimed at her, sliding against the wall when the pressure from their punches hit her.

Monk and Coyote did not let up, though. They both jumped back and tried to punch her again, and Marionette clumsily blocked again.

Kai sluggishly leaned against his partner for the first two times of Marionette blocking, but then his eyes regained some shine and he shook his head, trying to get some of the pain in it to reside. He looked over at her and his eyes widened when he saw that she was fighting with his weapon. It was kind of cute. However, he didn't need to be basking in her beauty. He needed to help her, even though she had his weapon. So, he coated his fists and legs with light and when Coyote and Monk charged forward again, he landed an uppercut on Coyote and then spun in the air and roundhouse-kicked Monk, knocking both of the guy back. "So... You enjoying stealing my weapon?" he asked, smirking at Marionette.

Marionette felt relief wash over her when she heard Kai's voice and saw his smirk. And then she was annoyed that she felt that way. It was just because he wasn't dying, nothing else. Her eyes fell to the sword and she handed it back to him, wobbling as she shifted it to one hand.

Kai took the sword and she glared at him when he held it with one hand. "What?" he asked, wondering what he had done this time.

"Nothing," Marionette answered, scowling. She turned her attention back to the battle, ready to fight as Monk and Coyote recovered.

_"Unison Raid?" _Kai asked telepathically. He didn't see how they were going to be able to defeat the other two. Sure, they were battered, bruised and Coyote had a stab wound in his shoulder, but in the end they still had a hell of a lot more magic than them.

_"I think so," _Marionette responded. They had to hurry. She felt like she had enough magic to do it and to blind the two with another attack, so she thought that that would be be the best course of action. _"I will blind them and then we'll run behind them and do it," _she said.

_"Okay," _Kai responded.

"Light Magic: Cadeau du Ciel!" she cried, sending out a blinding burst of light before she and Kai launched themselves across the room.

"Dammit!" Coyote hissed when the bright light happened again. He had activated the soul of the shark and so now he could smell the blood from Kai's wounds, but the fact that everything in the cavern was white was still infuriating.

"This isn't looking too good," Monk said, wishing that he had his sunglasses, though he wondered if it would actually help him at all. He stopped and he slowed his breathing so that he could focus on his surroundings. He figured that the two mages would attack with physical attacks like they had been doing. His eyes widened when a certain pair of words sounded through the cavern.

"UNISON RAID!" Kai and Marionette yelled together as they held hands and light pulse from their body. The light from Marionette's previous spell began to fade, but the light from their bodies was illuminating most of the cave. Their magic swirled and began to dance around Coyote and Monk. The cave was bathed in a bright essence as the Unison Raid shot from the two light mages.

Monk and Coyote gasped as small beams of light shot into their body, causing them to be lifted from the ground, their bodies bending towards the ceiling of the cavern. Pain filled every inch of their bodies and they both scowled from the pain, trying their best not to scream out in pain. After a moment, the beams of light retracted and part of them shot to the ceiling and part of them hovered against the floor. The light around them began to fade, but then the two clusters of light shot down and covered them in a painful magic that burned their skin and seemed to suck up their magic.

When the immense spell was over, Kai and Marionette fell to their knees, still not having enough magic in them to withstand using the attack. They exchanged smiles, their breathing heavy, both of them writhing from their injuries with every breath.

Monk and Coyote fell from the air and to the ground, neither of them moving as their bracelets turned red. They were unconscious and battered, their bodies covered in what looked to be burns. They didn't get time to even realize that they were defeated before their unconscious bodies were teleported out of the cavern, their backpacks staying behind.

The magic-absorbing spell did not come back into the cave as the barriers dropped and this made Marionette happy because she had figured that the caverns were sort of like safe-houses afterwords.

"We're awesome," Kai breathed, sitting back and leaning against the wall. He couldn't wait to rest, though he wished that they had some way to keep up with the time, since they still did have a time limit for making it out of the cave.

"We need to patch up your wound," Marionette said, noticing that the blood had stained a good portion of the back of Kai's shirt. She figured that he wouldn't be able to do it by himself.

"You're gonna take care of me, my love?" Kai asked, grinning playfully at her though he was in pain.

"Definitely do not call me that," Marionette snapped, not actually answering his question. She stood shakily, grimacing at the pain that was in her abdomen and back. She was almost out of magic and she figured that they would have to stay in the cavern for at least a day before they would be able to find the exit. She dug through each of the backpacks until she found ointment and a roll of bandages. She wobbled back over to Kai and dropped to her knees beside him, her eye twitching as she globbed the ointment onto the wound, which was a large gash in the back of his head and then began to wrap it, wishing that they had supplies to clean it, since it had dirt from the cave wall in it. It would have to do for now, and hopefully he would get proper medical attention back at the camp. She finished bandaging it and then sat back against the wall, wincing at the pain in her back.

"Thanks," Kai said, gently leaning his head against the wall and closed his eyes. He was happy. They had a chance to regain their magic, so even if they did have to fight another team, they would be able to handle it, as long as he didn't get hit in the head too hard again. He was hopeful that he and Marionette would make it to the final trial. "What do you think the final trial is going to be?" he asked, barely opening one eye to look at Marionette.

"I am not sure," Marionette responded in a soft voice. She tried to think of something. Maybe more exploring of the island or something. Or maybe they would have a massive battle between the mages that did make it through. Or maybe they would have to fight Winter or Crystal... Then again, how would that go, since they were old ladies who couldn't move very fast?

"I think we'll be S-class, you know," Kai said, grinning as best as he could in his weakened state. He had confidence in their abilities as a team. All they had to do was rest up and get out of the caverns. The only worry he had at all was the fact that if they got trapped in a more than three caverns, they would fail because of time issues. He was confident, still, though.

"I have high hopes," Marionette responded. She had the same worry that he did, but it was not her concern. She just wanted to rest up at that moment.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hope you enjoyed the chapter~ Leave a review if you want. Ocena, Tori and Haven are my OCs, and to be honest, I may sometimes forget to claim my OCs, so if I don't say something at the end of the chapter, then you can assume that it's my OC. I was gonna put both trial two battles in this chapter, but it would be too long, so expect that next chapter. This arc is gonna be wrapped up within the next 5-7 chapters unless I get this amazing idea in my head, which I probably won't because I know people are anticipating the GMGs.

Also... I proofread this when I was tired and didn't find many errors, which means that this chapter is probably full of them and my mind just isn't catching them. Sorry if that' the case. X_X

*****Remember to vote on the poll on my profile if you haven't! I have more votes on the poll than in my notes, so I will be using the poll results for the GMGs. Please get your vote in by August 14th. I will take the poll off my profile and cast my vote if there are too many ties on that day... Unless I forget because I'll be moving two days after that. T_T*****

**Review Responses:**

Thanks for reviewing as always. Love from me~ :D

**shadowssj12 - **Hehe. They were Banshee Tear. :) And I think it will be the chapter after this one that will bring me to 200. :)

**La Maitresss' Dame - **I hope you enjoyed the battle~ Sorry I didn't make it three way, but I couldn't figure out how to make that work, really. :U And I'd already started writing this chapter when I realized that I could do that. X( And it's fine about the review. I believe I've done it before, too. XD

**preciousjewel101 -** I will be trying to update every day until the 15th or 16th. I'm glad you're enjoying this. :D

**Nicky Azure - **Hehe. I'm glad that I pulled off a suspense chapter again. Not that there's not suspense in this chapter. The Exceed Search Party members are still poisoned with very little anti-venom. :U

**Rin Ice Miyako - **I hope you enjoyed the little fight. :)

**Hiragami Kotone - **I hope I don't disappoint. And sorry I couldn't fit the battle into this chapter. X_X

**FairyTailWolf6 - **This one isn't quite as bad with cliffhangers, I don't think. :U And I hope you enjoyed the battle with Kai and Marionette. As for couple names, I've tried to think of some, but I...fail. All of them sound weird. XD

**LilTimy - **I hope this update didn't disappoint. :) And I'll see what I can manage with making the others form teams. :)


	24. Chapter 23

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ Enjoy the chapter~ And remember about the poll. ;)

* * *

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

**In the caves...**

Kimi and Jared had both fallen into a fairly deep sleep after having a meal in the cavern that they had found. Neither of them even heard when the barriers dropped, but Jared's eyes did flutter open when he heard two pairs of footsteps. He saw a girl with dark pink hair and a girl with blue hair and he tapped Kimi in attempt to wake her up. This wasn't good. He knew that the two females were Kimi's teammates and he didn't know how Kimi was going to feel about facing off with her teammates.

Kimi's eyes fluttered open and after the second that it took for her brain to began functioning, her eyes widened. "Mistere-chan, Hikari-chan!" she exclaimed, climbing to her feet and dusting herself off. She wondered how long she had been sleeping, but pushed the thoughts from her mind because she knew that she needed to remain focused.

Hikari's and Mistere's eyes widened as well when the stopped on the other side of the cavern and the barriers around them returned, locking both team into the cavern.

"Kimi..." Hikari mumbled under her breath. Kimi was one of her best friends and one of the first people to welcome her to the guild; she didn't want to fight her. The thought made her stomach churn.

Mistere felt the same about the battle. Her teeth sunk into her bottom lip and her eyes darted from Kimi to Jared, who didn't seem to be making a move.

Kimi would have forfeited instantly if she would have been alone. She felt as though her teammates deserved being S-class mages way more than she did, but there was Jared. He deserved to be S-class as well! She was torn; she didn't think that she had it in her to fight her teammates, but at the same time, guilt would consume her if she didn't try her best for Jared.

Jared would have attacked, but he was concerned about Kimi. All three of the females seemed uncomfortable with the situation and while he tried to find some grounds of empathy, he couldn't. He knew that most of the guys that he hung out with would be raring for a good fight if they were on the other team. Kimi's team seemed to be comprised of cheery females though, so it was different.

Hikari eventually pushed her worry out of her mind and her eyes narrowed. "I think this is gonna be a fun fight!" she called, smiling at Kimi.

Mistere hummed nervously and then nodded, pushing her worry to the back of her mind. "I think we can all agree that the results will good either way, right?" she asked, smiling. She wanted to be an S-class, but at the same time, she would be perfectly fine with Kimi and her friend becoming S-class.

Kimi twirled and a pink magic circle appeared over her head as she summoned up her staff. "I'll try my best, you two~ Best of luck to all of us, 'kay~?" she said, smiling brightly.

That was his okay to attack. He didn't know how long they had been resting, but he felt as though he had regained most of his magic, so he wondered if this would be an unfair fight. "Shadow Entangle!" he called as black tendrils danced around Hikari and Mistere, grabbing them.

Everyone in the room apart from Hikari was a long-range fighter. This wasn't good. Mistere that knew her wisps that held people in place worked better against those who preferred close-combat. The best that she was going to be able to do was burn their magic with the wisps or hold their arms and hope that they had to move their arms to activate the spells.

Hikari's eyes widened when the shadows wrapped around her, causing pain to pulse through wherever they touched. He feet were lifted from the ground and she winced in pain. She looked over to see that Mistere seemed to be in the same position. She had to do something! As soon as she concentrated on using her magic through the shadows, everything went dark and she heard Jared's voice.

"Dark Grab!" he called, causing dark hands to come up and wrap around the two females, throwing them to the ground.

Kimi wanted to attack, but when she saw that her teammates were fairly damaged by Jared's attack, she hesitated, unsure of what to do. She had tried telling herself that she was okay with this fight, but in the end, she didn't think that she was. "Erm..." she started, holding her staff in the air as the jewel on it began to glow. "Cosmic Magic: Star Fall!" she called, her brows furrowed with worry as the pink stars rained down and targeted Hikari and Mistere. She hated this situation!

Hikari recovered from Jared's attack just in time to see Kimi's attack. "Earth Dragon's Dome!" she called, swinging her arm and causing the dirt around her and Mistere to create a dome around them so that the magic didn't hit them.

Mistere wasn't in the best condition at the moment. She barely managed to climb to her feet and she was breathing heavily. She hadn't been given the chance to recover any magic like all of the other mages that were in the battle.

Hikari dropped the barrier and launched herself forward, earth swirling around her fists. She wasn't going to aim for Kimi until she got more into the battle, so she aimed for Jared.

Jared jumped back to dodge, rolling in the air so that his hands landed on the ground. "Dark Wave!" he called as he shot out a wave a darkness, rolling back onto his feet. Hikari leaped in the air, and Jared was going to jump back and dodge, but he found that he couldn't move, barely noticing the wisps around his feet before both of Hikari's drill fists crashed into his chest, ripping his shirt open and knocking him back into a wall after Mistere's wisps disappeared.

Hikari grinned and looked over her shoulder, glad to see that the wisp mage was floating to avoid the Dark Wave and that her hands were held forward as she controlled her wisps.

Kimi stared as Jared was pummeled by Hikari. She had to fight! Unfortunately, as soon as she took a step forward, she felt herself being lifted and thrown into Jared with Mistere's wisps, who hadn't managed to get up yet. "Sorry!" she yelped when she heard the air being knocked from his lungs by the impact. She climbed to her feet and helped him up before pink magic circles danced in front of her. "Candy Fire: Frosting Swirl!" she called as a blast of pink flames spiraled towards both Mistere and Hikari.

Hikari smirked and her cheeks and stomach swelled as she bellowed, "Earth Dragon's Roar!" aiming at all of Kimi's pink flames and blasting them away.

Kimi let out a small scream as the roar hit her and caused her to slide back. This wasn't a good match. Hikari would have the upper-hand because they were in the caves like this.

Jared stepped forward after sparing Kimi a worried glance. "Shadow Entangle!" he cried, black tendrils wrapping around the girls once again, pulling Mistere from the air and stopping Hikari from moving at all. He then held up both of his hand with his palms facing the two girls. "Dark Ray!" he called, shooting out two beams of darkness that hit the two girls, blasting them from his tendrils of darkness.

Hikari grimaced in pain, but managed to twist around in the air and land on her feet, skidding backwards as she did so. She noticed that Mistere didn't seem to be having such a good time with it, landing on the ground, unmoving. "Not looking good," she mumbled, removing her flute scythe from her back and bringing the flute of it up to her mouth.

Kimi's eyes became bigger and within a few seconds, she was behind Jared with her hands clapped over his ears. "Don't listen..." she mumbled as she felt her body becoming stiff with paralysis. He was better at fighting than her; he stood way more of a chance of winning than her.

Jared couldn't hear anything, but he wondered what the flute-handle of the scythe did. He soon found out, though, as he felt Kimi locking up behind him. When the girl removed her lips from the flute, he stepped forward and watched as Kimi fell forward, completely umoving.

_"I'm paralyzed. She can cause damage with her flute," _Kimi explained telepathically. _"It's okay, though~ You're stronger than me so I saved you~" _

Jared turned to Hikari and his eyes narrowed as he stepped forward. As long as Kimi stayed against the wall, she may be out of the radius. Maybe. He didn't want to do this in front of her, but it was the best bet for them winning. He was facing the Earth Dragon Slayer and they were standing on dirt. This was the only way they would be able to get the upper hand on the battle. "Dark Ecriture: Fear and Suffering," he mumbled, writing out runes in the air. The runes flashed purple and shadows shot up, surrounding him and cloaking him. When they faded, he was only a hooded figure with glowing red eyes. The shadows danced and swirled around him and his conscious embraced the shadows, a devious grin crossed his face as he cackled maniacally. Darkness pulsed from him and the air itself seem to be consumed by the magic.

Hikari felt a pain shoot through her right eye as dark scales began to cover her right arm. She let out a whimper and covered the blood red eye. "Zeref... He... His magic..." she whimpered. "I...I..." she was going to forfeit, but her eyes landed on Mistere, who was sitting up, fear in her glazed eyes. What was going on? What was he? She had to win... For her friend; to tell Kimi who this guy really was. She would fight! She stepped forward, but froze when Mistere screamed in agony.

"WHAT IS THIS?!" she cried out, tears streaming down. "ST-STOP! It's not my fault! Please!" she pleaded, hugging herself. She was flooded with memories of the past. It wasn't her fault. Her father did not die because of her! She was tired of the blame, tired of everything. She just wanted to run away... Leave everything behind... But hadn't she? What was going on? The moment of sanity washed away as memories flooded her. Her brother leaving to travel, her mom's accusing eyes. Everything that she had escaped from.

"Mistere!" Hikari called, running over to the girl and putting and arm around her shoulder. "Please, snap out of it!" she cried, shaking the hysterical mage. It wasn't helping, though. She was sobbing and screaming, completely unaware of anything around her. "What the hell did you do?!" she snapped as her eyes landed on Jared, standing and stepping forward, darkness dancing in her right eye, taking in the magic, even though she didn't want it to.

Jared laughed maniacally. "Fear and Suffering!" he snarled as his explanation. "Why are you not affected...?" he asked, his body hovering forward. "I'll just have to make sure you suffer physically, then!"He then inhaled and breathed out, wheezing "Darkness Breath...!" Pure darkness shot from his lungs, barreling towards Hikari.

Hikari jumped into the air and dodged. She wanted to end this quickly if possible. "Secret Art: Earthen Burial!" she cried, landing on her hands and attempting to encase Jared in the same earthen sphere that she had trapped Stark in in the previous battle.

Jared was caught in the ball and he scowled at first when he began to contort. However, after a few seconds, he began to laugh loudly. "Death Wave!" he practically screeched, a black wave bursting from his body and destroying the magic, landing on his feet. He turned to Hikari, who was watching with fear in her eyes. "...Are you finally feeling the fear?!" he asked, cackling again.

Hikari wasn't affected by the fear that he emitted, but she was scared by his magic. "Zeref..." she whimpered, tears falling from her left eye, while her red eye had consumed so much darkness that it was wider and seemed to swirl with darkness just as Jared's body was. Her arm was now completely covered in black scales that seemed to dance with the darkness as well.

Kimi had heard everything, but she hadn't been able to look up because of the paralysis. She wondered what was going on. She was worried about all of them. She could feel the darkness near her and she was fighting the flashbacks of that dreadful night. On top of that, she kept having visions of the day that she and Natsu would meet, how she and Mistere struggled against him, but while Lucy and Erza held Hikari back, he devoured them and she watched in horror as Mistere was killed first and then he approached her, covered in the blood of her friend. It was awful. She knew that everything was a hallucination, though, so she fought it and when the paralysis wore off, she sat up, her eyes widening at Hikari's and Jared's appearance. What...Was going on? She had been around darkness when she watched her parents and sister die, but this was something else. The cavern itself seemed to hold the fear, suffering and chaos. Before she realized what was happening, she felt tears rolling down her cheeks. She wanted to help them all. She wanted to pull Jared from the darkness, she wanted to rid Hikari of the chaos that was reaching for her, and she wanted to cure Mistere's heart of all the suffering, but she couldn't bring herself to move. The flashbacks made her feel sick and the visions made her long to cling to her friends. She just wanted it all to end.

Jared didn't even notice Kimi. All of the real him that was present was focusing on remembering that all of the girls in the room were allies and that no matter how much the reaper wanted to engulf them in suffering, he just couldn't do it. Smirking, his arm and hand grew, coated by darkness, and he launched his hand forward, grasping Hikari's face and lifting her from the ground. "Reaper Grab Ecriture..." he snarled, a small chuckle coming from deep within his throat.

Hikari still wasn't affected by the fear that pulsed from his magic, but she felt herself absorbing as the Chaos lacrima inside her was fully activated, coating the rest of body with midnight colored scales and splashing her left eye with red, making it partially red and partially blue. She absorbed the hand, her stomach swelling slightly from the magic, and then landed on her feet, scowling. She hated the lacrima; she hated the way her body reacted to darkness, but it was too late. She was now a part of the dark magic, too.

Jared burst into an insane fit and showed a malicious grin to Hikari. "That's why you weren't affected... You are quite acquainted with the darkness as well, I take it?" he asked.

"Go to hell," Hikari hissed. Her fist became coated in a black sphere that resembled death magic and she shot forward at incredible speed, punching Jared in the chest and sending him flying back into the wall.

Jared recovered almost instantly and his arm of darkness shot forward again, grabbing Hikari and throwing her to the ground as the insane personality of the reaper laughed loudly. His eyes than narrowed and dark tendrils lashed out from every part of his body as the reaper temporarily gained control of Jared. Music was emitted from the tendrils as he hissed, "Dark Capriccio!"

The song made both Kimi and Mistere scream out and clap their hands over their ears. Visions of death, destruction and darkness danced in their minds as their consciousness was pulled out by the tendrils, everything seemingly unreal apart the visions where their friends were torn apart in front of them and everything they knew was ripped out from under them.

"Please... Jared... Stop!" Kimi sobbed out as loudly as she could, fighting the visions. She could hear Mistere's pitiful screams and she hated the voice that Jared used when he was like this. She had to act, but she felt so weak and sick. "Please..." she whimpered, bending over so that her head was touching the floor that was stained with her tears.

"I'll stop him, Kimi!" Hikari growled, barely in control of her own magic as she darted forward and punched Jared in the face, knocking him forward. As he fell, she kicked him in the abdomen hard enough to cause him to crash into the ceiling.

Jared had heard Kimi's voice. She was caught in the suffering, too. He didn't want to hurt her. He felt his panic rise as he tried to control the reaper and revert forms, finding that he couldn't do it for some reason. Was this because of the training that he had done recently? He hadn't perfected the training he was doing, but he had trained his reaper form... Maybe it was going to overpower him this time.

Hikari's eye spun, dark runes appearing in it as her stomach swelled and she roared, the dark magic coming out and launching at everyone on the field.

The visions worsened as Kimi and Mistere were slammed against the wall by the blast and they both let out torn screams again.

Jared dodged the attack, hovering in the air above Hikari. A solid black ball of magic appeared in his hands and he threw it down at the girl, smirking.

Hikari jumped back and inhaled, eating the death ball, wincing as the chaos pulled her further and further away from her mind. She would have to stop this, soon, somehow.

"Cosmic... Magic: Star Flash!" Kimi called, forcing herself to her feet and holding her staff in the air. When a bright pink light bathed the arena, she ran in between Hikari and Jared and continued to run until she dropped to her knees in front of Mistere. "Mistere-chan!" she said, pulling the girl into a tight hug. "They'll stop soon, somehow..." she said. She wasn't even sure what she was doing anymore. She wanted to help Mistere first, though. She still didn't have full control of her mind and her body ached, but she would be strong for her friends.

Mistere heard Kimi's voice through the visions and she opened her eyes. "Heh?" he coughed out, wrapping her arms around the pinkette. "What... I can't make it stop..." she whimpered out, burying her face into Kimi's shoulder.

"Fight it..." Kimi cooed. She needed to figure how to make it stop. Would making Jared stop make Hikari stop? Hikari seemed to be unwillingly taking in the darkness, and Jared was producing the darkness. "Be strong, Mistere-chan," she whispered in a soft voice as she stood. She turned back to see that Jared and Hikari seemed to be fist fighting, Hikari with a mix of black earth and dark magic coating her fists. They were both in the air and both moved at speeds that Kimi wouldn't be able to match. Inhaling to summon her courage, she stepped behind the spot where Jared would most likely land if he landed and stood.

Hikari-through the chaos that raged in her mind-saw Kimi and wondered what she was doing. Maybe she planned to fight Jared, too? Or maybe she wanted to help him... Either way, she dodged one of the punches that Jared threw and kicked him, sending him back a good bit.

Kimi inhaled again, and stepped forward, snatching Jared from the air when he came close to her and clinging to him, fighting the visions that flashed through her mind. She closed her eyes, tears forming in the corner of them and hugged him tightly. "Don't you think it's time to stop this fight...?" she asked in a soft voice. "Please...?" she added sweetly. She was terrified, but she didn't want to be. It was Jared, after all... He had just let his magic take control of him. Everyone had a dark side, and this was his. His was meant for battle, while her own dark side was hidden away for the day when she encountered the one that had took the lives of her family.

Jared heard her voice and felt her arms around him and the darkness began to dissipate as he attempted to revert. Just as the darkness had almost left, it gathered into one tendril that split and stabbed into each of Kimi's shoulders and her stomach, making her whimper in pain before slamming her against the ceiling and then letting her drop to the ground.

Jared finished pulling himself from the darkness and at the same time as Mistere and Hikari, he dashed for Kimi.

Kimi ended up landing in the arms of all three of them, her eyes void of most of their shine, blood dripping from her body. Her bracelet was flashing red. However, when she saw that all three of them seemed to be back to normal, she smiled. "You're all okay..." she said.

"You're not!" Hikari snapped. When the darkness had vanished from the cave, she had regained control of the lacrima in her eye and had deactivated it, so her scales were gone and her blue eye was now pure blue, no more hints of red left in it.

"I'll be fine..." Kimi said, her eyes then landed on Jared, who's eyes reflected guilt. "I... I think we've lost, though... I'm in pretty bad condition... Sorry I never helped you..." she said, her voice weak now.

"It-It's okay," Jared mumbled, wondering why the hell she was one apologizing. He watched as her bracelet turned red, not even speaking to Hikari or Mistere as they teleported out, guilt making him unable to speak.

"Good luck, you two!" Kimi called as loudly as she could before they teleported out of the caves and the barriers blocking the other paths dropped.

Hikari stared at the ground and her arms. There was blood everywhere. She was worried. After blinking tears out of her eyes, she turned to Mistere. "Do you have enough strength to finish this trial?" she asked. "I wanna get done and make sure Kimi is okay..."

Mistere nodded. "...Please...Don't question the things I screamed when I was in that state..." she said in a small voice as they began to walk. She wasn't even sure if she had actually said anything, but she felt as she did.

"Okay," Hikari responded. Of course she was curious about it, but she wasn't going to pry into her friend's past if not wanted. She couldn't help but to wonder what Kimi and Mistere had been tormented with during the fights, though.

* * *

**At the camp...**

Everyone apart from Winter was asleep when the Exceed Search Party returned. No one had even bothered returning to their tents and instead were all sleeping around a pile of singed wood.

Izzy made a dash fro Lillay and snuggled up next to her Dragon Slayer, who was fast asleep, barely stirring as the Exceed cuddled her.

Winter looked up and smiled. "Where were they?" she asked in a soft voice, approaching the mages so that they would have distance in between them and the sleeping mages. She had been worried and when she got close enough to see the damage that the poison had caused, her eyes filled with worry. "What... What happened?"

"There are mages on the island," Stark explained, his eyes narrowing. "They attacked us. One seemed to use water magic and was possibly a dragon slayer while the other used mask magic and summoned some kind of snakes..."

Fame stepped forward and handed over the anti-venom. "The woman had some vials of anti-venom for the snakes in a pouch that I managed to get, but this is the only one we have left after all taking a dose..."

"You will need more than one dose, right?" Winter said, knowing how anti-venom usually worked. She turned back to the camp, wondering if the young Sky God Slayer would be able to heal them. She was so weak right now, though, and it wouldn't be safe to assume. Maybe Adrian or Emery would know something, though it wasn't likely.

"We need someone to track down the mages," Azura spoke up. "We can't. If this venom sits back in, we become numb from it," she explained.

"Yeah. I'm afraid we're down for the count," Stark pitched in. "They're a part of a guild that has something to do with Banshees and it's not a dark guild, so we gotta be careful not do anything that they will catch the Magic Council's eye."

"Everyone here is weak," Winter said in a low voice. "Adrian, Cantrelle and Crystal have been running themselves into the ground with helping, and the mages that have returned have been beaten. No mages have even returned from the second trial yet..."

Before anyone could respond, Adrian stirred and sat up after a moment, careful not to wake Cantrelle or Sharon, who were sleeping close to him. He had had a restless sleep, worrying about all of the mages that he was tending to. When his eyes focused and he saw Winter talking with the other mages, he became curious. His eyes widened when he saw Fame's chest, Stark's stomach, and Cross' body. He climbed to his feet and scurried over to them. "What happened?!" he asked in a low voice that was full of panic. He then hesitated before adding, "If you don't mind me asking..."

Winter smiled weakly at Adrian and handed him the anti-venom. "Are you familiar with this?" she asked.

"Did you all get attacked by grey diamond snakes?" he asked once he saw the small picture.

"Think so," Stark responded.

He chewed his lip. "We need more anti-venom, right...?" he asked, his eyes dropping.

Winter nodded. "Monk and Sara have healing powers... Do you think that it would be possible for them to make it until they can heal them? They have had one dose of anti-venom..."

"I...I don't know..." Adrian said, not wanting to be too negative. "The venom... It numbs the body before paralyzing it and taking away vision... It then attacks the organs and dissolve them, all while eating away at magic, if magic is present..." he explained. He only knew so much because he spent most of his time in random forests around Fiore, and he had researched forest life. The gray diamond was a forest snake. "...I've also heard that it may be resistant to most magic..."

"Sounds painful," Fame growled. "Is there anyway to reverse the effects?" he asked. He still couldn't see out of one of his eyes, and it was driving him insane.

"Erm..." Adrian thought for a moment and then nodded. "There's something called a purple willow in a forest that is near the town of Violet... It's sap is said to reverse the poisons of many highly venomous snakes..."

"Can't you, like, grow plants instantly?" Azura asked. "And I absorbed the venom with my sword, so it can't be resistant to magic!

Adrian shook his head. "I-I'm sorry... I can't grow trees. I know where the trees are, though, and I know that gray diamonds live in those forests... So I could make the antivenom and get the sap... I'd need to leave the island, though..." he said. "..And that's different, as it doesn't destroy the venom, but merely reuses it..."

"I will let you leave if you need to..." Winter said.

"How long do we have before we are at risk for dying?" Cross asked.

"I don't know about Exceeds... Humans will probably be permanently damaged... If not dead... In a couple of days..." Adrian said, backing up and blushing. "Please don't hate me for saying that..."

"Why would we hate you if you're being honest?" Azura asked, glaring at him. He seemed so meek for a mage.

"I wanna go with you!" Artemis said, flying over to Adrian. "I wanna help Azura because she's always helping me! It'll be faster if you can fly!"

A yawn came from in the direction of the camp and Adrian saw Sharon walking towards him. "I'm gonna tag along, too. If you get hurt, I can get us back or something." She had woken up when Adrian got up and she had been listening to their conversation.

"I'll go, too!" Terra said, parting from Stark. "I agree with Artemis. I am going to help this immature man, even though I think he already owes me for every time I've been the voice in his head," she said, glaring at Stark.

"We could fly you two there!" Artemis cheered. She then turned to Azura. "I'll help you the best that I can!"

Azura laughed. "You're silly," she commented. She was sad that Artemis was leaving, but she felt that Adrian and Sharon would watch out for her.

"Are you sure you wanna leave, Terra?" Stark asked. He would worried without her around. It wasn't that he didn't trust Adrian or Sharon; he had just got her back, though.

"I am. I can be of use," Terra said, nodding.

Adrian smiled. "I think Sharon and I need to get ready... We'll be back as soon as possible," he said, bowing his head. "You can ask Emery-chan to take over my spot as a medic," he said to Winter.

"Please hurry back and be careful..." Winter said as a small hole was made in the lacrima walling of the island.

Adrian and Sharon nodded, hurrying to their tents.

Winter then turned backed to the four mages who were poisoned. "You all need to rest... The poison may take longer to set in if you rest. I will start waking up everyone to get team formed to search for the mages..." she said. She wondered how the mages had managed to get on the island, but she figured that the team would know nothing more than she did.

* * *

**At the camp...**

Within in an hour, everyone had been woken up and gotten dressed. The sun was just starting to rise and most people were groggy. Fame, Azura, Cross, Stark and Ice were all lying down, wondering when the venom would set back in and hoping that by some miracle, it didn't and Adrian, Sharon, Artemis and Terra had already long since left the island.

Winter had made a new medical team that consisted of Cantrelle, Sara, Gabe and Emery. She then told the remaining mages to form two groups of four and search the island for Banshees. Eira, Nezuko, Gwen and Leo had formed a team and Danny, Ikaros, Lillay and Yuki had formed a team. They then split in two different directions, planning to circle the island and meet back at the camp, each team going over the other teams's tracks.

"Sara, sweetie, do you think you have enough magic left to attempt to heal one of the ones who are poisoned?" Winter asked. She had already explained the conditions of the four mages and Cross since a few of the other mages had been astonished to see some of their toughest guildmates lying down even though they weren't sleeping.

Sara turned to Winter and nodded. "I think so..." She said. She had rested long enough to recover some magic, and she wanted to help as much as she could.

"I can copy her magic as well," Gabe said. He, too, had recovered a good bit, though he was still shirtless with his shoulder wrapped up. A golden magic circle appeared under him as he copied Sara's magic and walked over to the four.

Cross seemed to be starting to have minor problems breathing and so Gabe decided to focus on her while Sara focused on Stark, who had the most black veins on his body. Both of the mages hovered their hands over the sick mages and began to heal them. After a few minutes, they realized that nothing seemed to be changing.

"D-do you feel an-any different?" Sara stammered. Using the healing spell on someone else for even a few minutes was tiring and she knew she wouldn't be able to work on all of them. She was glad to have Gabe helping her.

Stark shook his head. "To be honest, I don't feel the poison right now, so I don't know if you're helping any..." he admitted, laughing lightly until the wounds on his stomach reminded him that he was in pain.

"If I can recover some magic, I can use my healing spell tonight," Azura said, her eyes on the sky and the sunrise. The moon was gone, so it would be useles to try.

"Didn't the medic guy say this would eat away at our magic?" Fame asked, sarcasm in his voice.

"Shut up! I can hope!" Azura snapped.

Ice let out a soft sigh. She wanted to be away from people. It was driving her insane. Winter had insisted that she stay with the others so that the medical team could watch over her and Cross. She would be fine. It wasn't like there was anything that they could do by the looks of it. She started to sit up, but Winter seemed to be watching her and when she noticed the guild master's glare, she fell back and stared at the sky. She wondered why she had even been instructed to join a guild. She wasn't cut out for this sort of thing and it wasn't enjoyable.

"We've got some mages incoming," Winter announced. "Emery, run and get Monk's and Coyote's bedding, if you will."

Emery nodded and did as she was told. As soon as she arrived back, Monk and Coyote teleported in, both unconscious.

"Gabe, love, can you help Emery get them onto their bedroll?" Winter asked.

"Yes, Winter," Gabe said in a respectful tone. He walked over and picked up Monk, noticing how his body was covered in burns. What had happened? He would have to ask when they woke up.

Emery wanted to smart off to Gabe for leaving her Coyote for her, but she didn't. She didn't know Gabe and no one even knew that she and Coyote had interacted. She lifted him, stumbling slightly under his weight, and carried him over to his bedroll. She placed him down and went to see what kind of burn ointments that Adrian had left them. She gave one jar of the ointment to Gabe and took the other jar for herself. Adrian was more cut out for this than she was. He didn't mind touching people or tending to their wounds. She hated medical work.

"Another incoming team," Winter said as soon as Gabe and Emery had finished with Monk and Coyote. Emery let out a frustrated sigh.

"I'll get the beds!" Cantrelle said once she noticed Emery's annoyance. "Wait, who is it?" she called once she was halfway to the tents.

"Kimi and Jared!" Winter called back.

Jared appeared with Kimi in his arms and his eyes dropped when blood dripped onto the grass. He wasn't even that tired, but Kimi was in terrible condition.

Winter saw the amount of blood. "Sara or Gabe, can one of you use a healing spell on her?" she asked, concealing the worry in her voice. She had seen the battle, so she didn't need to ask what had happened. She also knew that it wasn't her place to mettle in their business. It was another bump for their relationship.

Sara and Gabe worked on Kimi, who had passed out while Emery walked over to Jared, noticing that he wasn't wounded. "Do you.. Need anything?" she asked, placing his hands on her hips.

Jared shook his head and walked away from the camp, not even wanting to socialize with anyone. He knew that Kimi was in the hands of the medics now and that she would probably have nothing to do with him when she woke up, so he didn't see the point in hanging around the camp. He wondered where everyone was, but figured that it was just a game or something that Winter was making them play.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Leave a review if you want! All we have left is the teams seeing if they can find the banshees and Kai, Marionette, Mistere and Hikari finishing trial two and taking on trial three. I know some of you weren't happy with the results so far. Don't hate me. All characters will still have plenty of lines in the fic and I don't know how much being S-class will even affect the characters, if they make it past trial three. :)

**Review Responses **

Thanks for reviewing as always~ Love from me~ C:

**shadowssj12 - **I'm really happy that you like the chapter! Hopefully this chapter didn't disappoint.

**Junior the Otaku - **Multiple reviews~ It's okay if your reviews are shorter because you're tired. :) With Monk/Coyote vs Kai/Marionette, I think a lot of people thought that Monk/Coyote would win. :l I think the battle in this chapter will probably have the same feelings, but in the end, it was really only Kimi who lost. Jared would have still been able to fight and he probably could've targeted Mistere and won, but his partner failed. X_X

**La Maitresse' Dame -** I'm really happy that you found the chapter to be so amusing! XD I try my best. :) I could definitely do a scene sorta like what you imagine. I'm glad you don't spot errors. I proofread and try to catch them.

**Hiragami Kotone -** I hope the fight in this chapter didn't disappoint. :)

**FairyTailWolf6 - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter~ I though that part was a bit cute, too~

**Nicky Azure - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter~

**Lazyboredom - **I hope I didn't disappoint too much with Jared losing. X_X We can still try to work out the idea that you said you had, if you want. I also hope I portrayed his ecriture correctly. It was a really fun battle to write. :)

**LilTimy - **I'm glad that you look forward to the chapters so much~ I hope you continue to look forward to them. :)

**Rin Ice Miyako -** Maybe they're lying... But not in the Magic Council's eyes right now. ;)


	25. Chapter 24

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ Hope you enjoy the chapter. I should change my greeting. :U Vote on the poll, please?

* * *

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

**With Investigation Team A**

"You know... If they took down the people that were searching for the Exceeds, what's to stop them from taking down us?" Gwen asked as she pulled up her Technician screen. Nezuko, Eira and Leo stopped, surrounding her screen as she typed away, displaying a large map. She didn't want to do this mission because she hadn't recovered fully and she didn't have a lot of magic left, but this was something that she could be help with.

"Don't worry so much, Gwen," Nezuko said. She then watched the screen. "Is that a map of the island?" she asked.

"Yeah," Gwen responded. "I'm tracking all of the mages who's magic I am familiar with. I pulled off samples of the magic from the ones that were injured and analyzed it. I can see where everyone is right now... They are the purple dots," she explained.

"So... Finding anything?" Leo asked. "And damn, that's kinda impressive," he said, wrapping his arm around Gwen's shoulder.

"Hands off..." Nezuko growled, scowling at Leo.

Leo glared back her, already tired of her after spending the night around her and having to travel with her. "You know, she's not a kid," he said in a low tone.

"Shh..." Gwen said, bringing a finger to her lip. She practically had the two arguing in her ears and she needed to concentrate.

"What's with you?" Nezuko snapped.

Eira sighed. This was not what she had in mind for her morning. She was tired, too and she would have preferred to be asleep at the time. However, she didn't feel safe after Winter had informed them there was another guild on the island.

Gwen frowned. "S-sorry," she stammered. "I really need to concentrate, though," she said. She read the map, noting where the camp was and where the other team was, and then where the caverns were. There should be four people in the caves, and there were. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary at all. She typed on the keyboard until all of the dots disappeared and then she then a headset appeared on her head. "Search for... Water Dragon Slayer magic!" she commanded, annoyed when a large red X appeared in the screen. "Not finding anything..." she sighed, letting her magic go away.

"What was all of that?" Leo asked.

"I searched the entire island for beings that use Water Dragon Slayer magic, but there isn't anything..." she said, pouting.

"Oh, well. Looks like we'll just have to do this the old fashioned way," Leo announced, grinning. "C'mon, damsels and Nezuko!" he called as he walked forward.

Gwen frowned at the way he said "damsels" meaning that he was probably going to try to flirt with Eira, too.

Nezuko rolled her eyes and turned to Eira. "Look out. He's got his eyes on you, too," she said as her voice oozed sarcasm.

Eira wasn't really paying too much attention to Leo. She knew how to ignore guys like that and had no problem doing so.

* * *

**With Investigation Team B...**

"How do ya think that the bad mages got on the island?" Yuki asked as he walked with Danny, Lillay, Izzy and Ikaros. They had been given the task of circling around the caves first because that was where the mages had been found and their team was in better condition than the other team.

"They had an Exceed with them," Izzy said. "A very terrible Exceed with a mohawk and a bad attitude," she added, her eyes narrowing.

"You sure he didn't hurt you?" Lillay asked. She had already had her reunion with her Exceed, but she worried about her after seeing how the team that had found her looked.

"I'm fine," Izzy assured.

"The ground is wet..." Ikaros pointed out when they started walking through the grass around the cave, now out of the camp's site completely. She stopped and looked around. There wasn't anything but water and it didn't smell like venom or anything.

"This must have been where the attack was," Danny said, noticing the burn marks on the ground and a line where the grass was unearthed. Fame and Stark must have been fighting, too. He had to commend them for fighting with venom running through them, even if they had gotten an anti-venom. He noticed a part of the ground that seemed to be tainted by a shadow and he removed one of his lances from his back and stabbed it into the ground, drawing out the magic.

"What're you doing?" Lillay asked, walking over to him as he stared at his lance.

"Trying to figure out what kind of magic this is," Danny responded.

"What will it help?" Ikaros asked. If she recalled correctly, they had already been informed of what type of magic they were up against, so what would it matter if he could find traces of the magic?

Danny looked to Ikaros for a moment and then his eyes went back to his lance. It began to glow after a moment, and then a dark purple string shot from it. "Stitch Magic: Search!" he called. The rope shot through the ground and when it shot back up, it had a girl with a blue mask with white fluff on it on her face. "Thought as much..." Danny hissed, readying his other lance.

"What the hell?!" Tori snapped. She had been flying through the sky alongside Haven and Ocena when the rope had snatched her from the air and brought her back to the island. They had been on their way back to their guild.

"You fled the island, right?" Danny called, anger flaring in his eyes. This woman was responsible for hurting his guild mates. She had put his guild mates in danger of dying. He had no intentions of holding back.

Ikaros felt the same. She pulled a bit of stone from the cave in order to coat her hands with gauntlets that had blades on the outside of the wrists and spikes on the knuckles.

"Don't think you're gonna make it out of this without remembering not to mess with a griffin!" Yuki growled, his ears pinned back, his tail swaying very slowly.

Lillay didn't speak, but instead coated her fists with ice and charged forward.

Tori jumped into the air to dodge and a purple magic circle appeared in front of her, but she didn't even have time to reach for it before Danny's lance shot forward and wrapped thread around her arm, slinging her to the ground. She didn't even have time to recover before she was being pummeled by Ikaros and Yuki, being cut by one set of fists and burned by another.

When the attacks ended, she sat up and laughed. "You know... We're not a dark guild. Didn't your friends tell you that? You've brought damage on us, and we could bring the Magic Council down on you so hard right now..."

Lillay scoffed. "You've damaged us first. We could bring down you, too!"

"No... Not really," Tori shook her head, batting her eyelashes at Lillay. "You see, you have to get the anti-venom before you leave the island. On top of that, the grey diamond is a real snake, so we could always claim lies. But you all... Have attacked me... There aren't many mages of your classes, so we could easily prove that it was you who attacked us..."

Yuki snarled, the outlines of two tails appearing in fire. "We'll..." he stepped forward but Danny stopped him.

"We need to be cautious about this," he explained. "And rational," he added. He then looked to Tori. "Why is your guild attacking us? We have done nothing wrong."

"Oh, we're not just attacking you... We've hit Fairy Tail, Saber Tooth, Lamia Scale... All those big guilds," Tori purred. "Ocena and I were assigned to you guys and we couldn't find you, so our mission has went a little different. Everyone else went without being seen, but we had to do things differently."

Danny's eyes narrowed. "We're a small guild. Why would you attack us?"

"Oh, you have potential. Strong mages and sexy men, you know?" Tori said. "I can't reveal our plans... I may give you a hint if you'd spare me a night, lance-boy..." she added, smirking flirtatiously.

Lillay snarled at her with that, though Danny was blocking all of them from moving forward. She wasn't really the jealous type, but when it came to such blunt flirting as that, she had to be a little bit offended.

"Whatever," Danny rolled his eyes, not affected in the least by the flirting.

A purple magic circle appeared in front of Tori and she pulled out a solid white mask with closed eyes, placing it over her face. "Mask Magic: Mask of the Mage!" she called. With that, the mask turned violet in color and a magic circle appeared on the ground.

All of the griffins readied themselves, despite the fact that they knew it wasn't a good idea to be attacking the woman.

Out of the purple circle came a clone of Azura. They looked exactly the same apart from the fact that she seemed to produce a slightly dark aura. Tori laughed. "You see... If I attack you with the Mask of the Mage, you will be damaged by one of your own guild members and your argument about us attacking will still be invalid!" she announced, laughing.

Danny frowned at her words and was thinking of their best course of action. He didn't even notice when Lillay and Yuki shot forward under his outstretched arms, Yuki slapping the Azura clone out of the way with his fiery tail and Lillay calling, "Ice Dragon's Crystal Fist!" as she let her fist crash into Tori's face, knocking the girl back.

Ikaros assumed that it was too late now to not attack, so she leaped forward and flipped in the air so that she was able to throw her fist into the girl's stomach before she was able to get up.

Tori screamed in pain and she tried to get the Azura clone to help her, only to find that it had been burned up by Yuki and destroyed. The Kitsune Slayer's body seemed to radiate fire as he snarled at her. She didn't even bother getting up for fear of what the four mages would do next.

Danny walked over and together, they all surrounded her, strong magic radiating from all of them. Any dash of kindness he normally showed was now gone as he pressed the tip of his lance into her now exposed stomach, breaking skin. "Tell us now what the hell you're doing here!" he demanded.

Yuki snarled, his tails lashing out around her legs, burning her.

Lillay coated her foot with ice and pressed it into one of her arms, smirking deviously at her. Izzy flew beside her, glaring down at the woman.

Ikaros didn't torment her, but she had her gauntlets ready and there was no shine of cheerfulness in her eyes.

Tori knew that she didn't stand a chance at that point. She wished that Ocena was with her and wondered where he was at that moment. She was scared that they were going to kill her. So she did the only thing that she could think of to do. She began to fake tears, crying and sobbing while trying not to let her stomach move too much since Danny's lance was still in it. "Please...I don't wanna hurt Silver Griffin... It's just my mission..."

"Tell us what you're doing and we'll let you go!" Danny said, unfazed by her tears.

"I...I can't... My m-m-master... He may... Pu-punish me," Tori whimpered. Her eyes landed on Danny. "You must under-understand...?" she asked, bringing her free arm up to rest on the lance that was digging deeper into her stomach.

"I have no common grounds with those who hurt my family, now answer my question!" Danny commanded.

No one let up on her. They would get the answer out of her one way or another. Her arm was completely frozen and her legs were covered in burns.

"I...I really don't know!" she wailed, tears streaming down her face. "Lord Banshee doesn't tell us anything!" this time she was being honest. "I promise. I don't think that whatever we're doing is bad... Lady Banshee won't let him do anything that would kill too many people..."

Danny glared at her. "Then why the hell would you do the mission?" he asked.

"I'm loyal to Banshee Tear," Tori responded. "Now please... Just let me go..."

Danny lifted his lance, but it quickly transformed into a small needle and laced around the woman, tying her up and restraining her. "I'm sorry, but we can't do that," he said, putting his lances on his back and then picking her up, throwing her over one shoulder.

"Are we just gonna take her back to Winter?" Lillay asked, following Danny as he started to walk. She had calmed down when Danny tied the woman up, though she still hated the woman.

Ikaros followed along, glancing at Yuki, who still had two extra tails behind him, a scowl still on his face. "I think it's gonna be okay!" she assured him, a bit worried about the boy's temper. She had seen it in battle, and she had already got the impression that it was hard for him to calm down once he was fired up.

Yuki's ear twitched and he snarled, but the tails began to disappear. "I don't like her..." he growled.

"None of us do," Lillay pointed out.

"You know, this would be fantasy material, lance-boy, since you've got me all tied up..." Tori purred as they walked.

Danny's eyes drooped in annoyance and he didn't respond. He was pretty sure he had never had such an urge to hurt someone in his life.

Lillay scowled at her. "You know, he's mine, and I'll bash your face in if you don't stop fantasizing about him, you whore!"

Ikaros wondered if she was supposed to say things like that to the people who were always around Gabe. They said things about fantasies and how nice looking he was. What did the word that Lillay even mean? "What does 'whore' mean?" she asked, after trying to think really hard about it.

Danny had been laughing under his breath at Lillay's words, but he burst out laughing when he heard Ikaros's question and looked over his shoulder to see Lillay's dumbfounded and embarrassed expression. What an odd group of kids he was with right now.

"Ehhhhh... If you don't know, you probably shouldn't," Lillay said, laughing nervously.

"I don't think I know, either," Yuki said, his ears twitching in curiosity.

"Let's head to the camp!" Lillay said, struggling to change the subject so she didn't have to explain such a harsh word to people who were apparently a lot younger than her mentally.

"I wonder if Gabe knows..." Ikaros mumbled under her breath.

Danny continued to laugh, imaging Gabe's reaction to a question like that, even though he didn't know Gabe that well.

* * *

**Meanwhile with Investigation Team A...**

Gwen jumped when a pinging sounded throughout her head and her Technician screen popped up. There was a red dot that was one of the bad mages incoming. "Get ready for a fight, I think!" she called.

Eira had already noticed the human and Exceed flying overhead and she had her bow arched, aiming at them. She fired the arrow, landing a hit on Exceed's wing and the two came crashing down from the sky.

"Rat Spirit Take Over!" Nezuko called as dark golden magic circles bathed her in light and she absorbed the souls of departing rats to achieve her spirit form, her eyes narrowed.

Leo had already taken out his broadsword and his eyes were narrowed as the aqua-haired man landed on front of them, his Exceed in his hands.

"Da hell was that for?" the Exceed cursed, glaring at Eira.

"Seriously!" Ocena growled, letting go of Haven, who got out of the way. "I'll drown all of you for that!" he said, throwing his arms out and sending a large wave of water toward the four griffins.

Leo stepped forward, and switching his sword to one hand and placing an electrified hand in the water, he shocked Ocena, who was standing in the base of the water.

Ocena cried out in pain and stumbled back. "Damn, a Lightning mage," he hissed, his body smoking from the burns that Leo had caused.

"Sorry to tell you this, but don't think we're gonna play nice since you hurt some of our griffins," Leo said, pointing his sword at Ocena.

Nezuko scurried forward and bashed her tail over his head, making him stumble back into one of Gwen's mines, causing him to yell in pain as digital magic coursed through his body.

When the attack was over, he stood, water swirling around him as his body became coated in pale blue fish-like scales and his fingers became webbed. "I've had enough," he snarled, showing his enlarged canines. His stomach swelled and an aqua-colored magic circle danced in front of his face. "Roar of the Water Dragon!" he cried as a blast of water shot from his mouth.

"Idiot," Leo mumbled, bringing his palm up and surging electricity into the water, a scream of agony sounding through the air as the magic entered Ocena's mouth.

Haven stared in horror as his partner fell to the ground, unconscious. Tears swelled in his eyes. "What da hell? Ya guys are really gonna get it!" he wailed, tears streaming down his face.

Gwen walked over to the Exceed and picked him up while Nezuko wrapped her tail around Ocena to carry him.

"Lemme go, sista! I ain't gonna jus' let ya do whatcha want wit' me!" Haven whined, scratching at Gwen's chest until she wrapped her arms his body.

"I think we need to take them back to Winter, right?" Gwen asked. She had only picked up the Exceed because that was what she assumed they needed to do at that moment.

"Yeah," Leo said, unequiping his sword. "I can carry him if you don't have magic to maintain that form," he said to Nezuko.

Nezuko didn't say anything and just handed the water dragon slayer over, reverting to her original form.

They began to walk back to the camp and Gwen smiled. "I think everyone did really good, though we didn't have to fight too much," she said, looking up at Leo was eyes of admiration. He had taken down a dragon slayer with no problems at all, even if it had been a dragon slayer that his magic was strong against. She wished she could be brave like the three that she was with...

Eira followed behind the three silently. She still hadn't told Nezuko what was bothering her. She wondered if it would be okay for her to fall back. She hadn't even realized that she had stopped until Nezuko also stopped.

"Oi, Eira, what's up?" Nezuko asked, tilting her head in question at the seraphic mage.

"Can...Can I talk to you for a moment, Nezuko?" she asked in a small voice, her eyes falling to the ground.

"Sure," Nezuko answered. "Gwen, Leo, take those two back to the camp. We'll catch up," she called.

"Okay!" Leo and Gwen responded back, continuing to walk forward.

Nezuko wasn't happy about leaving the two alone, but it wasn't like they could do much of anything since they were transporting the enemies. She shrugged it off and walked over to Eira.

Eira waited until Gwen and Leo were out of earshot before speaking. "I'm sorry that I caused us to lose the exam," she started in a small voice. "I've... Had a lot on my mind."

"It's okay, and I've noticed," Nezuko responded, folding her arms over her chest. "It's all good, though," she added, shrugging it off. "We all have stuff that gets to us from time to time. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to..."

Eira shook her head. "You're my friend. You deserve to know what is going on," she said. She then began to explain the same thing that she had to Stark and Marionette about how she had been feeling her brother around but not able to actually find him or find any proof that she was feeling him.

Nezuko sighed after she finished her explanation of what had been going on. Marionette and Eira were by far the most level-headed women that she had encountered in her life and she couldn't imagine that Eira was going crazy. She wanted to hug the girl, but in the end, that just wasn't her thing, so she smiled at her instead. "Don't worry so much about it... Well... You should think about trying to find your brother because Marionette and I could help or something, but you shouldn't worry that you're going crazy or anything. You're too damn intelligent to be going crazy..."

Eira returned Nezuko's smile, glad that the rat mage had understood and not said anything critical. "I may consider that if I feel his magic around again," she said. She was happy that all of the people who she was closed to seemed to support her. She really did have family in the guild.

* * *

**Back at the camp...**

Both of the investigation teams had returned and Nezuko and Eira had not long afterwords. Winter commanded that Danny and Emery both tie them up, so all three of them were now wrapped in ropes and roots. A few hours had passed since they had set out and it was now midday. Winter had yet to hear anything of trial two being completed, but she had faith in the four that remained in the caves. She had questioned Tori and Ocena to the point of using her magic to absorb most of their magic, but she had realized that they really didn't know anything about what they were supposed to be doing.

After a moment of thought, she turned to them, her eyes narrowed. "Please know that you two have harmed my children and everyone here feels that you have harmed their family. As such, we will never forgive Banshee Tear and we will always keep a watchful eye. Also note that if I can get in touch with the guild masters of the bigger guilds, I will be informing them about Banshee Tear," she said, her voice low and cold. "However... I will keep all of this away from the Magic Council on the condition that you keep it away from the council and leave my children alone... We are not a big guild and you have no use in involving us with your plans..."

Ocena glared while Tori nodded eagerly. It was obvious who was the bolder one of the two.

"Oh... And please do inform your Lord and Lady that between griffins, fairies, mermaids, lamias, pegasuses and tigers, the banshee will be torn to shreds if it doesn't stop," she hissed. "Be warned... You do not want to go to war with any of us, and we will form an unbreakable alliance if the thought even seems to come up..."

Tori whimpered while Ocena continued to glare at her.

"Release your magic on them, my children," she called over her shoulder. Once the magic dropped, she waved her hand. "Run along now, children... Remember, griffins can play rough so it's best to play nice!"

Tori cried out, tears streaming down her face, and stood, pulling her Mask of the Shadows out from her magic circle and then grabbing Ocena and Haven before disappearing.

"Are you okay, sister?" Crystal asked once the two were gone.

"Yes... I am fine," Winter responded sincerely. "I know that my children will stand as one if the time comes, and the banshee will fall. There is nothing to fear..."

"Um, Winter... I think the poison is..." Sara whimpered out. She had been keeping an eye on the five that had been poisoned, and all of them now had deep black veins running along their skin. Azura had already complained about not having eyesight, and Fame was the same way.

Winter walked over to the five and frowned. All of them seemed to be having trouble breathing, especially Cross. Their eyes were all closed tightly and for Azura and Ice, their hands were curled into tight fists around their bedrolls. "My poor children... If not for that annoying Magic Council, I would have turned those three into pretty ice sculptures for the guild hall..." Winter hissed. She then sat down, Indian style at the heads of the four mages and Exceed. She ran her fingers through their hair, grimacing at the cold sweat that coated their bodies.

Ice would have said something about Winter touching her had she been able to. Her lungs hurt with every breath, and she couldn't feel her mouth at all, so she couldn't talk. Every part of her body hurt and though she didn't want to admit it, she couldn't see anymore, either. She wondered if this was really going to be the end of the line for her. She hadn't really been one to think about her own death because she trained and made sure that she was strong, but she was pretty sure this was as close to the death as she was ever going to get.

Azura didn't mind Winter touching her. She was in too much pain to mind anything. She wanted to sleep, but the pain wouldn't reside enough for that to be possible, it seemed. She wanted to see how the others were doing since she could hear their raspy breathing, but she couldn't see anything. She hated this. She didn't know Adrian or Sharon that well, but right now, she was pretty sure her life was in their hands.

When Fame felt Winter's fingers in his hair, he was reminded of when he lived with his mom and he would get angry, and she was go into his room and sit with him until he calmed down. That was ten years ago, though. Damn. She was gonna be devastated if he didn't make it through this. He was her only child; the child that left home way earlier than he should because he wanted to become the best mage in the world. He hadn't even visited her in a few months because he hadn't found the time to. If he survived this, he'd tell his team that he was taking a solo mission and that he would be back later.

Stark wasn't really the type to completely get annoyed at physical contact like the three that he was lying next to were. He didn't even react. His mind was on the fact that it might be the end of his life soon. He was worried and he didn't want to die before he even hit twenty. He would leave Terra alone and he would leave Eira and all of his friends behind. What would Terra say if she came back to find that he had passed away? He couldn't even bare the thought of it.

Cross could barely even think. She felt as if she was just a floating soul because she had lost all feeling in her body and she had lost her eyesight. She wanted to be strong for Ice because she was Ice's only friend, but she was didn't know how long it was before she moved on. Occasionally, she feel her heartbeat, faint and slow and she knew that her organs were starting to struggle.

Nikko was sitting on Fame's stomach and watching him with tears in his eyes. He knew that no one could do anything right now. Sara and Gabe had tried again to heal them once they had gotten Kimi patched up, but it didn't seem to be help at all. He didn't want to lose Fame... He couldn't even imagine a life without the lightning mage.

Coyote, Monk and Danny walked over, Danny sitting next to Stark and Coyote and Monk sitting at the heads of Azura and Fame, on either side of Winter.

"Hey, man," Danny said to Stark. He was worried about him. Not that he wasn't worried about all of them, but Stark was one of his best friends and the thought of losing him brought tears to his eyes.

Stark let out a small grunt in response to let his friend know that he could hear him.

"Oi, Fame, Azura, you two look pitiful right now," Monk said in a joking manner. He had tried his healing aura, but it hadn't worked, either. He was trying to keep everything light because he didn't even want to think of his teammates dying.

Azura let out a grunt of sarcasm and Fame opened his eyes and glared, though it was creepy because his eyes had lost their shine and had a milky coating over them. "Shut... It..." he breathed, his speech slurring."

Azura nodded in agreement with Fame. If she wasn't in so much pain, she would have laughed at Fame's voice.

Coyote didn't speak. He sat with his legs crossed. Of course he didn't like thought of losing half of their team, but he didn't know how to say he was worried. He just watched them with this odd glimmer of concern in his eyes.

"Ya know, Coyote here is even worried about you," Monk said, laughing lightly.

"Shut up," Coyote hissed at Monk.

Winter felt the tears rolling down her cheeks again. She was so hurt by the entire situation of the island. Her children had been injured and now she was at the risk of losing five of them. She couldn't comfort them and they were in so much pain. She hadn't felt this much emotional pain in years. "Please, hurry... Adrian... Sharon..."

* * *

**Still at the camp...**

The day faded to night and there was no sign of Adrian or Sharon yet. The five that were suffering from the poison had passed out from it and their heart beats were faint now, though they were alive. They were chalky white with dark lines around their eyes and cold sweat covering their skins. Winter, Danny, Monk, Coyote and Nikko were all still sitting around them, all awake even though it was night. None of them had even bothered to eat. All of the healing mages had tried again to help them, only to fail once more.

Kimi had surprisingly woken up during the night, confused as to what was going on. She stirred and then groaned when pain shot through her entire torso. She tried to remember what had happened to her and then she remembered her battle. She had caused Jared and herself to lose the exam because she had been hit with his darkness. She looked around, trying to see him, but she couldn't. After a moment, she forced herself to sit up, letting out a cough of pain. She looked down, noticing that she wasn't wearing a shirt. Instead, her torso as completely wrapped in bandages that were slightly blood-stained. She let out a small whimper of pain and continued to look around. She noticed a figure across the pond, sitting near the water. She was pretty sure that was him. That was such a long walk, though. She pouted for a moment before narrowing her eyes in determination.

The pinkette struggled to her feet, coughing in pain as blood dribbled down her lips. She stumbled and walked forward, but a voice stopped her.

"Hey, girl, what are you doing?" Emery's voice sounded. She had been almost asleep, but she had heard Kimi moving around.

"I'm just gonna go for a walk~" Kimi answered, turning and smiling brightly. "I'm fine... I promise~" she said as she began to walk.

Emery wondered if she should stop the girl but decided she would just watch and make sure she didn't wonder off from the camp.

Kimi skipped over to Jared trying to hide the pain in her eyes as she plopped down beside him. "Hi~" she greeted him.

Jared had been so lost in his own thoughts that his shoulders tensed in surprise at her voice. His eyes widened when he realized who it was. "Are you okay?" he instantly asked, looking at her, his heart sinking when he saw her smile. He didn't know why she was even talking to him, but he figured it would end with him feeling even worse than he already did, even if she was smiling at the moment.

"I'm fine~" she said. She then looked down at her shoulders and stomach. "Well... I think I'm a bit beat up, but it's nothing that I can't handle," she said, smiling brightly at him. "Why aren't you asleep? It feels like it's pretty late..."

"...Can't sleep," he responded after pausing to wonder why she said that she was just a little beat up. He had hurt her and she was acting like it was nothing. That made him think... Didn't he at least need to apologize to her? "Erm... Hey... I'm... er... S-sorry," he stammered out, knowing that simply saying that he was sorry would never be enough.

"Don't worry about it~" Kimi said, realizing that he must have been blaming himself for what had happened. "I'm not mad or upset or anything... It was an accident. It happens," she said, curling her legs a bit, but wincing when her stomach told her not to do that, sending pain through her abdomen.

"You're really not mad?" Jared asked in disbelief. "You don't have any hate towards me... Anything...? You just call it an accident when I nearly killed you?"

Kimi giggled. "Yeah~" she responded, nodding. "I'm alive and I'm fine~ Just worried about you 'cause you're acting all lonely and not asleep..."

"...You shouldn't worry about me..." Jared said under his breath. He was pretty sure that this was almost as bad as the guilt he had felt when he was a member of Lamia Scale. Why was she so cheerful? Why did she still care about him? She was acting as if he had accidentally tripped her or given her a paper-cut, not pretty much stabbed her three times.

Kimi let out a small sigh and then, despite the protest from the wounds in her shoulders, she lifted her arms around wrapped them around him, pulling him into a hug that wasn't as tight as her usual hugs since she was in pain. "I'm really not gonna hate you... I'll probably end up saying this again again, but we all have darkness inside of us... Mine is saved for the girl with mask magic because she took my family from me... You've found a way to use yours in magic, and I think that's okay~"

Jared was surprised yet again when she hugged him, knowing it had to hurt her. "...You know... Kimi... You don't have to hang around me if you don't want to..." he said in a soft voice, his eyes on the ground. "...I'm not really that lonely... And I'll end up hurting you..."

"I really like you, Jared~" she said in a small voice. "If you're getting tired of me, you can tell me, though," she added softly, though her eyes dropped to the ground. She was perfectly honest with him. She wasn't afraid of him just because he had lost control of his magic. She was pretty sure that happened to everyone sometimes, even though not everyone used dark magic. Besides, Hikari had lost control, too, but she didn't think any different of her either.

Jared blushed as he very gently wrapped one arm around her and shook his head. He got nervous in situations like this. On top of that, he still didn't really feel any better about what he had done, so he just couldn't find any words to say.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I know a lot of stuff didn't happen. Expect the conclusion of trial two in the next chapter, most likely. Leave a review if you want~

**Review Responses **

Woooh! 200 reviews! Thank you all so much for the reviews. :)

**Barrett M107 - **Thank you for the congratulations~ :) I'm really happy that you like the story so much! c:

**La Maitresse' Dame - **I understand candy affects. O_O I've had candy for the past few days and it makes me type faster. XD And I'm glad that Fame and Ice have your interest. I will not reveal pairings that aren't obvious, though. O.O Sorry, that word confuses me and I thought about how to spell it but eventually just went with it. X_X I will try to get the S-class exams finished up soon. :D The part with Banshee Tear and the poison was thrown in randomly with no planning, so it made the arc a little longer.

**JellalNeedsCake - **New reviewer? Yay! Anyway, I'm really happy that you like Jared and Kimi so much! And thank you for the compliments~ I hope you continue to enjoy the story. :)

**LilTimy - **I'm happy that you're looking forward to the next chapters so much! :) The bad thing in this exam wasn't planned out at all. I added it in because people kept anticipating something bad happening. XD

**Hiragami Kotone - **I'm happy that you thought the chapter was so intense. Hopefully I can pull off intense chapters in the GMGs, too.

**shadowssj12 - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter~

**Nicky Azure -** I hope you're looking forward to the next chapter and I'm glad that what I did with Artemis was okay~


	26. Chapter 25

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

**Searching for the antidote...**

"This forest... How... How many dangers are there?" Artemis asked, clinging to Sharon's head, her tiny body shaking. She, Terra, Adrian and Sharon had made it to the forest that was home to the purple willow by nightfall after half a day of flying, but the forest was full of tall trees and oddly colored leaves. While it was hard to see, the grass even appeared to be purple in color. There were screams and howls that sounded from the forest; the sound of wild animals fighting.

"Yeah, Adri, do you know anything about this forest?" Sharon asked. They each had pure magic surrounding their hands, the orbs of magic illuminating the small area around them. She wasn't the type to become scared easily, but she had to admit that being in a dark forest with looming trees seemed like something that one would see in the horror movies that appeared on TV lacrimas.

"I've only visited it a few times because it doesn't really look much different during the day," Adrian admitted, laughing lightly. He wasn't scared because most of his nights had been spent in forests and the sounds of animals fighting happened in many forests. He was worried about his team, though. Terra wasn't speaking because she was trying to act tough, but she was clinging to Adrian's head as well, watching all the trees around her. Suddenly, he stopped, though. "Oh, my," he said, raising his arm to reveal a huge spiderweb that had a rather large, decaying hawk wrapped in it. He had only knew that the spiderweb was overhead because he had caught the glint of the web.

"What...?!" Sharon whimpered out, stepping back. "There's gonna be a giant spider around here, isn't there?" she asked.

Before Adrian even answered her question, a giant string of web shot out at Artemis and Adrian grabbed the Exceed just in time to get her out of harm's way, wrapping one arm around her and turning his other arm into a vine that shot out, pulling a giant spiders that was big enough for at least four people to ride on out of the trees and slamming it into the ground.

"Thank you!" Artemis whimpered, her paws wrapping around Adrian's shirt.

"Damn, that's a big spider," Sharon said, a disgusted look on her face. "I'm gonna kill it," she added, a small twister forming in her hands. "Air Magic: Twister!" she called, throwing the small twister at the spider. The wind grew and caught the spider, slicing it up and slinging pale yellow spider blood everywhere.

"Nasty," Adrian commented. Petals then danced around as he called out, "Jane's Song!" and sent the petals racing for the spiders, aiding Sharon's twister and tearing the spiders to shreds. Once the magic stopped, her sighed. "Now we have to walk through that," he said, pointing to the mess of spider blood that covered all of the forest floor and tress that were in front of them.

"Wait, what?" Sharon snapped, turning to him. She had spent so much money on the boots that she was currently wearing, otherwise she wouldn't care.

"I can give you a piggyback ride," Adrian offered, smiling.

"Yeah...Let' go with that," she responded, smiling at him.

So, with an Exceed on each shoulder and Sharon on his back, Adrian walked through the spider mess, grimacing at how much it ruined his shoes. He made it across the guts and continued to walk, his eyes landing on the dark colored weeping willow tree that was in front of them. "Sharon-chan, do you think that you could use your sword to cut a hole in the tree so that we can get the sap?" he asked, putting Sharon down and pulling out three large jars that he had brought.

"Right," Sharon said, removing her sword from her back and running up to the tree, slashing through it, watching as a dark purple sap leaked from the tree.

Adrian moved quickly and let the sap ooze into the jars. Terra and Artemis taking it upon themselves to hold the other two jars, which made him smile.

"So is this the stuff that will make them feel better?" Terra asked, watching as the sap continued to fill the jar.

"It will reverse whatever affects like blinding that the venom has had..." Adrian said. "I'll have to collect the venom next, after searching for some of the snakes and then from that I can use my magic to try to make an anti-venom."

"So, are we gonna have to help you get the venom?" Artemis asked, curiously wondering how one was to go about getting snake venom.

"I'd prefer to do it by myself, so we won't risk too many more people getting poisoned," Adrian said sheepishly.

"I don't mind helping," Sharon pointed out.

"It...Would risk both of us getting bitten and then the Exceeds would have to transport us back and everything with us being sick," Adrian responded.

Sharon shrugged and she and the Exceeds watched he hunted for the grey diamond snakes after they gathered the tree sap.

After a few minutes of searching, Adrian turned his hand into a vine and shot it into a hole that was in a hollow tree, pulling out a hissing snake by the throat region. He held up his other hand, using magic at the end of his hand to illuminate the snake, smiling when he saw the black body and gray diamond pattern on its back. He pulled out a small jar and brought the snake over to press its fangs into the top of the jar, watching as dark venom dripped from its fangs. Afterwards, he stretched a his arm into a vine to put the snake far away from him. He repeated the process until he had two small jars of venom. "Let's get back to the island," he said.

"Right!" Artemis, Terra and Sharon said at the same time, their eyes narrowing in determination.

* * *

**At the camp...**

As the sun rose, the mages who had been afflicted with poison were still suffering. When Emery had gotten up to go over to them, she had thought that they were dead at first, as it was hard to tell that they were breathing. "Adrian...Where the hell are you...?" she mumbled under her breath. She didn't know any of the dying mages very well, but she felt sick to her stomach just by looking at them.

Monk had went silent long ago. He had resulted in clapping his hands under his chin and bowing his head, praying for the healing of his friends. He couldn't lose them. He couldn't even bare the thought of what their table at the guild would be like if it was just him and Coyote. He also couldn't imagine how the Exceeds would respond. What would they do?

Coyote's eyes had went blank as he hid his emotions at the sight of his friends in this condition. He didn't even want to think about anything.

Danny had sat beside Stark all night and Eira had joined him when she returned. They had sat in silence, though tears would fall from their eyes sometimes, when they lost control. Leo and Jared had joined them, too, all completely silent.

Winter stayed with her sick children. A part of her was happy that the teams still in trial two hadn't finished yet. She wasn't sure that she would be able to bring her thoughts together enough to even explain trial three to them, even though it was a simple trial.

Cantrelle had joined Winter to comfort her, not liking to see her guildmaster and guardian in the condition that she was in. She was hopeful that Adrian and Sharon would return soon, but still, she cried alongside Winter, silently.

"WE'RE BACK!" Adrian's voice sounded and Winter instantly made a break in the lacrima wall, letting the two Exceeds and two mages fly through. Everyone who was sitting around the sick mages stared at him. He had two large white flowers growing from his arms and two large jars tucked under another arm as Terra dropped him and he ran over.

"Azura!" Artemis cried when she saw her partner. She landed on Azura's stomach, close to Nikko and tears streamed down her face. "Are...?" she was going to ask if they were too late, but she felt Azura take a small breath and she stopped her question.

Terra landed beside Stark, knowing of the injury in his stomach. "We're back..." she mumbled, taking one of Stark's pale hands in her tiny paws. She had tears in her eyes, though she refused to cry.

"Are we too late?" Sharon asked Adrian softly.

"No," Adrian responded. He sat the jars down and the flowers on his arm disappeared, revealing the two jars of anti-venom. He began to make up syringes, obtaining empty syringes from his supplies that Winter had provided him at the beginning of the exam. He worked quickly, his brows furrowed. He knew that they didn't have much time left, if he didn't act. "C-Can everyone move back, please?" he asked in a small voice.

The people who surrounded the mages complied.

Adrian worked on Cross first, surprised that the little Exceed was even able to hang on by a thread. He injected her with anti-venom and then put the syringe down, grabbing another to inject Stark, and then Fame, then Azura and finally Ice. He sat back and hesitated. "They're gonna have to drink this..." he said, picking up a jar of the sap. "I don't know that they'll be able to until they wake up... But when they wake up, they're gonna be completely numb..." he explained.

"Wi-Will th-they live?" Nikko stammered.

"Yeah," Adrian responded. It would take a few minutes for the antivenom to take affect.

"What's all over your shoes?" Cantrelle asked after a moment of silence.

"Spider guts," Adrian responded, looking back at his shoes and pants, which were caked with a vomit-colored mess that had dried.

Everyone's eyes and face paled at this, but they didn't question it.

"Oh, speaking of that... You still haven't shown us the springs, yet," Adrian said to Winter. "When these guys get to where they can move, they're probably gonna wanna get cleaned..."

"Crystal has set it up..." Winter said, smiling. "I will show everyone when these children are doing better."

* * *

**Later at the camp...**

All five of the griffins that were suffering woke up a few hour after noon and Adrian began to work on getting them to drink the sap, which was hard because they were completely numb and were like ragdolls when he tried to sit them up.

"...Nasty..." Cross whimpered as she sipped the dark sap. It was really bitter and it burned as it washed over her mouth and returned the feeling to it.

Stark gagged when he drank it, his eyes watering as vision returned to them. "Uhggg..." he groaned.

"What the hell is this stuff?!" Fame snapped after his vision had returned and some of the numbness had subsided. He had the worst taste in his mouth after drinking the sap and it made him want to get sick.

Azura drank it and coughed, having to cover her mouth to make the sap stay down. She smiled when she realized that she had moved on her own and that she could sit up even when Adrian left her.

Ice attempted to not be affected by the awful taste, but she cringed.

"Okay," Adrian said, clapping his hands together. "I think you guys are fine now... However, You'll have to drink some more sap and get another anti-venom tomorrow morning," he added.

Azura opened her mouth to thank him, but she, Fame and Coyote were pulled into a tight hug by Monk. Nikko and Artemis then latched onto their partners' heads.

"What the hell?!" Coyote snarled, squirming as Monk's arms touched the burns that covered his body from taking the Unison Raid from Kai and Marionette.

"We're still a team! Group hug!" Monk said, laughing loudly.

"Lemme go, dammit!" Fame hissed. He was still numb in some parts of his body and it felt weird. Also, he wasn't okay with physical contact that wasn't fighting. Finally, the fact that all of them apart from Azura were shirtless was awkward to him.

"Hey!" Azura growled, though she was laughing, too. She felt better, though she was numb and sore, too. Her eyes then landed on Monk and Coyote. "The hell happened to you two?"

Monk let go of his friends and brought his hand up to one of the burns that were on his cheeks. He had healed some, but he was still burned. "Ouch," he mumbled and then laughed. "Maybe I should have brought sunblock!" he laughed, slapping his leg and then flinching. "Ouch!" he cried.

"You're annoying... Just shut the hell up!" Coyote hissed, rubbing his own shoulders and feeling the burns that were there.

"You're just as burned, Your Royal Crispness!" Monk snapped playfully.

"Oh, piss off, you deep fried idiot!" Coyote barked, slamming his forehead into Monk's as they glared at each other.

"Emir of Fritters!" Monk snapped.

"Sultan of Sizzling!" Coyote retorted, mostly arguing just to argue. There really wasn't anything for the guild to worry about anymore. They had taken care of the intruders and the exams were going into the last trial soon, and then they would all return to the guild.

"King of Bacon!" Monk argued back, his lip quirking up in a smile.

Azura and Fame exchanged glanced, sweat drops on their foreheads. Both of them had their Exceeds snuggled into their arms and they had simply been watching the argument, not even sure if Azura had gotten a legitimate answer to her question.

The two continued to argue and when Azura decided that she had had enough, she cleared her throat, getting their attention. "I'm S-class and you three aren't. Just thought I'd put that out there..."

"Shut the hell up!" Fame, Coyote and Monk all snapped, veins swelling on their foreheads.

Azura laughed. During training, she had missed being with her team. She was glad to be back with them.

Meanwhile, Ice sat there and picked Cross up into her arms. _"Are you okay?" _she asked telepathically. She was glad to see that the Exceed seemed okay. They had both survived the incident and they would be okay in the end, it seemed.

Cross nodded and despite the fact that she wasn't normally the most affectionate of Exceeds, she snuggled up to Ice, who now stood shakily.

Ice had been around people too long. She definitely needed a break and the area around the waterfall was empty. However, she knew that she owed thanks to someone, not for saving her life, but for helping Cross. She turned to Adrian, who had left the group and was cleaning up his medical supplies. She approached him and when he looked up at her, she bowed her head to him, thanking him silently before walking away, not even seeing the confused look on his face.

Meanwhile, Danny and Eira threw their arms around Stark after he had finished cringing from the taste of the sap. Leo was grinning and Jared was smiling, though they didn't hug him.

"Hey, man, I'm glad to see you recovering," Danny said, patting Stark's back and sniffling.

Eira nodded silently in agreement.

"Looks like you pulled through! Awesome!" Leo said, patting one of his shoulders.

Stark grinned, feeling a bit loved for having so many people around him who were hoping for him. Before he could speak, he had Terra clinging to his neck, tears in her eyes.

"Don't be so reckless!" she cried to him. "You know, I coulda taken care of myself!" she said.

The stone dragon slayer laughed, returning the Exceeds hug. "Yeah, yeah," he mumbled.

* * *

**In the caves...**

Mistere and Hikari emerged from the final exit of the caves on the morning of their fifth day on the island. They were tired and worn down, but they had made it through. However, the only thing in the little area that they had come to was a clearing with four bedrolls on it, as well as stuff to make a fire and six overstuffed backpacks.

"Erm...What are we supposed to do?" Hikari asked. They were also surrounded by outside walls to the caves on three side and a giant cliff on the fourth side. The earth dragon slayer walked over and peered off the cliff, seeing more of the caves below. She could see the waterfall, too, but there was no way to get to it.

"I don't know..." Mistere said, picking up one of the backpacks and looking in it. There was all sorts of foods that were meant to last a week, such as bread and fish that was frozen in Winter's snowflake magic. She assumed that grilled fish was supposed to be a meal option, and it actually sounded good, since they hadn't eaten in a while. So, she gathered up two nice sized fish, a container of spices and a frozen cube of butter from the bag and then searched the other bag for a water bottle a piece and sat them out on a blanket that was near the fire equipment. "I'm going to cook... Is that okay?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah," Hikari said, stepping back from the cliff and turning to her friend. "Do you need any help?" she asked.

"I'm just going to grill fish... I can do it," Mistere said. She then started the fire with matches and a bit of firewood, setting the fish up to hang on sticks, the flames of the fire barely covering them. She then seasoned them and removed them from the flames when she was done.

"Do you think we're just supposed to sit here until the trial is up?" Hikari asked as they started to eat. The thought had crossed her mind when she noticed that there was enough food to last for nearly a week. She had no idea how long they had been working on trial two, either.

"It's a possibility," Mistere responded. She was tired and ready for the trial to be over.

* * *

**Later in the caves...**

It was dusk when Marionette and Kai emerged from the caves to see Mistere and Hikari sitting on two of the bedrolls, talking about random things. The fire had burned out but there was still plenty of firewood left.

"What's going on?" Kai asked. His head had healed some, though it was in need of medical attention and he and Marionette had had a fairly smooth time finding their way out of the caves.

Hikari shrugged. "I don't know... I don't see where else we can go and there was a sign that said 'End of Trial Two', wasn't there?" she asked, recalling the sign that she and Mistere had seen when they emerged from the cave.

"Yeah," Kai responded.

Before the light mages could even sit down, Winter's voice sounded through the lacrima bracelets. "Congratulations. You four are the only ones to make it through Trial Two! The trial is now over so I will be teleporting you back to the camp now to explain the final trial!"

* * *

**At the camp...**

Marionette, Kai, Mistere and Hikari found themselves in front of Winter by the pond when they were teleported. "We're about to have a family dinner, but I'm gonna explain everything first," Winter said.

There was another fire, courtesy of Yuki, and Adrian, Kimi, Ikaros, Gabe, Sharon, Jared Cantrelle were in the process of cooking for all of the griffins, though Jared was mostly just there because Kimi was forcing him to be social and hang around with everyone. They were all talking and cutting up. Danny, Lillay, Leo, Gwen, Nezuko, Eira, Emery, Stark, Terra, Yuki, and Sara were sitting around the fire on blankets. Azura, Monk, Coyote, Fame, Artemis and Nikko had their own two blankets and were a bit away from everyone else, though they were cutting up and arguing. Ice and Cross had decided to go to the hot springs and so they weren't around.

Everyone had healed for the most part thanks to the medical team and healing mages, though a few of them were still sore in certain places. Everyone seemed to be in good spirit and the bedrolls had been returned to the tents and replaced by a bunch of blankets that the mages could sit on if they wanted to. The hotsprings had been opened and all of them had changed into outfits that didn't have holes or blood on them.

The four who had been in the caves looked around, noticing their friends. Marionette noticed that Eira and Nezuko looked fine and she wondered what trial they had made it to. Kai noticed that Danny, Leo and Jared all seemed to be doing fine and wondered who they had had to face off against. Hikari noticed that Kimi seemed to be fine after their battle and that she and Jared were still talking, which made her wonder how much it took to truly upset the pink mage. She also wondered if Kimi would be okay around her, too. Mistere noticed Kimi as well, but her eyes also landed on Fame, and she wondered if they would actually ever thought. After seeing him punch out one of his friends, she decided that it didn't matter and turned her attention to Winter.

"Congratulations again!" Winter said, smiling brightly at the four. "I will now tell you what trial three is, though I think that it's probably already crossed your mind..." she started. "Trial three is simple and it will not take path in the caves but instead in the clearing near this pond... The trial is to beat me in a two versus one battle!"

Marionette's nose scrunched. She didn't like that idea. Winter may have been the guild master, but she was an old woman who had to walk with a cane most of the time. Would it really be a fair battle?

Winter laughed. "You won't be battling me in this form, though," she said. Just then a bright blue magic circle appeared beside her and she passed out just as another figure appeared from the circle. This woman looked to be in her early twenties. She had fair skin, pale blue eyes that were narrowed in determination and framed by long, pale blue lashes. She had rounded facial features and a small, upturned rounded nose. Her hair was a very pale blue color and was straight, falling down to the middle of her back with bangs that framed her face and then went across her forehead in a straight line. She was dressed in a small, dark blue tube top with glittery snowflake designs on it, and super-short, dark blue shorts. She had no shoes on. She was a bit over average height, standing at 5'8'' with a large bust and wide hips.

"What happened to Winter?" Cantrelle cried, running away from the camp fire and dropping to her knees beside Winter. "Obaachan?" she asked in a soft voice.

"Sweet Cantrelle," the woman said, kneeling beside Cantrelle. "I'm Winter right now. It's Soul Transfer magic," she explained. "It's my Secret Art!" she said, laughing. She then stood and turned back to the four examinees. "You're going to be fighting me... This is what I looked like when Silver Griffin was developing and this was when I was in the prime of my power!" she announced, smiling brightly. The way her eyes sparkled were similar to Winter's, though the wrinkles were missing.

"Obaachan... If you can make this form, why don't you just stay in it?" Cantrelle asked, staring at the new Winter.

"This form is made of ice, my dearest Cantrelle," Winter responded. She then turned her arm to ice and broke it off completely before growing it back. "That will be something else for you to remember when fighting me," she explained. "This is a body of ice, so you can go all out... In the end, my soul will end up in my real body..."

When the four nodded to show understanding, Winter spoke again. "I will give you a week to rest, and then I will need three days to rest before I challenge the second team... You four can decide which team will go first..." With that, the body turned to pure ice and then shattered and the other Winter woke up. "Kai... Dear, can you help me up?" she asked sweetly.

"Sure, Winter!" Kai responded, helping the old lady to her feet and handing her her walking cane. He then turned to Hikari and Mistere and then looked to Marionette. "So, my queen, what do you propose?"

"Marionette. Do you just hate my name or something?" Marionette snapped, placing her hands on her hips. She then turned to Hikari and Mistere. "What do you propose?"

Kai blushed, about to tell her what he thought of her name, but he couldn't find the words before Hikari spoke.

"I think Rock-Paper-Scissors always works," she said, smiling. "Or a coin-toss, if someone has a two sided coin."

"I think Rock-Paper-Scissors sounds okay," Kai said, grinning.

Marionette snorted. "You can play for our team. This is just a bit childish," she said, stepping back.

"You may play for us," Mistere said. She didn't think it was childish, really, but she found that Hikari's luck was probably better than her own.

So, Kai and Hikari played Rock-Paper-Scissors in which Hikari won. "So, we'll go first," she said, smiling brightly.

Marionette shrugged. More time to strategize for them. With that, she and Kai began to depart from the others.

Mistere turned to Winter. "Uh... Winter... What are we supposed to do about rent? You said we may be on this island for a month, and some of us don't have our landlords on our savings..."

Winter laughed. "I knew I left something out!" she exclaimed, walking over to the camp.

Hikari and Mistere exchanged confused glances and followed her.

Kai started walking a bit slower as he and Marionette walked over to the rest of their guildmates. Her words had bothered him a bit and in all actuality, he didn't mean for giving her nicknames to come off as not liking her or anything. "You know that... Erm... I don't hate your name, right? "he asked, stopping.

Marionette walked a few more steps and then looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Does not seem that way to me... You're always insisting on changing my name to something else." She spoke honestly. She was pretty sure that he had called her her real name less than five times since they had started hanging out together. It was quite the annoyance.

"I think your real name is fine," Kai said, grinning at her. "I just think that it's appropriate for a guy to give the girl that he loves a cute nickname. Is that so wrong of me?"

Marionette didn't seem amused by his words. "The girl you love does not return the feelings, you know," she said, folding her arms over her chest. "...And I highly prefer for you to call me by my real name."

"Not gonna happen," Kai responded to the latter portion of her statement. He then stepped forward so that he was standing beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "And one day, you know the love will be returned. I'll keep at it until I'm a guy of your standards," he said.

Marionette slapped his arm away and glared at him. "You are persistently annoying. I will give you that," she huffed under her breath, walking with a fast stride to get away from him. She couldn't wait to get a break from him!

Winter waited until everyone, including Ice and Cross, were back at the camp before she answered Mistere's question to the entire group. "A question has arisen that I forgot to address," she started. When she had the attention of everyone, she spoke more. "Many of you have rent to pay, and if you are away on this island, which you are, you cannot pay rent nor earn the money to pay the rent, so for any of you who have any sort of monthly bills, I covered them for this month, so it's not something that you should be worrying about. Take this time as a vacation!"

Some of the mages cheered to this while some of them stared at Winter in disbelief. "Um, are you sure, Winter?" Hikari asked in a sheepish voice.

"Oh, please... You are my children. It's my job to take care of you and treat you from time to time," Winter said, smiling warmly.

* * *

**A few days later at the camp...**

Most of the mages were enjoying their time on the island, apart from when some of the quieter mages like Emery, Ice or Coyote would wander away from the camp, only to be dragged back by Winter and the threats of having to bathe in the opposite gender's hotsprings.

Kimi, Ikaros, Gabe, Yuki, Sara and Jared had decided to prepare a big meal for the group when a scene from the other day flashed through Ikaros's mind. She was supposed to ask Gabe what a word meant, and Kimi was around, too, so it was good to ask it now. "Um," she started to get everyone's attention. They were in the process of making a giant stew and debating what to put in it. When they stopped talking, she started her question. "What does the word 'whore' mean?" she asked.

Yuki's ears perked up as he waited for the answer, but he looked confused when everyone had negative reactions.

Kimi's and Sara's eyes turned to dots and their faces reddened, Jared averted his attention on purpose, not wanting to be a part of the conversation anymore, and Gabe's hair shaded his eyes as his face turned beet red.

"What's wrong?" Ikaros asked, her brows furrowing in worry.

"Ikaros-chan~ It's not a nice word to call someone... So maybe it's best if you don't know," Kimi said in a small voice.

"Yuki-kun... Please tell me you're joking..." Sara threw in, her voice completely flat.

Yuki shook his head. "I dunno words like that... Lillay used it on the girl we captured and it seemed to offend her and make Danny laugh."

Ikaros nodded in agreement.

"Well.. It's a person who... Erm... Ehh... Sleeps with people," Kimi weakly tried to explain, her voice trailing off. She knew words like this because of having an older sister who dated a boy or two, as well as living on the streets for a year or two, but she wanted make the nicest sentence possible that got the point across.

"Why is that bad?" Yuki asked. "I don't see a problem, especially if there isn't a bed for everyone!"

Sara's eyes turned to dots as she realized that Kimi' nice phrasing had it made it through his thick skull. She was the same age as Yuki, but she was apparently on a whole different level of maturity, even though she already knew that.

Kimi's eyes filled with tears of embarrassment and she tackled Jared, clinging to him. "Jared... Save me...! You read a lot, you have to know a nice way to explain this sorta thing! I don't know how! I don't know a lot of words!" she cried, burying her face into his shirt.

Jared let out a surprised cough when Kimi practically attacked him and then his eyes turned to dots when he heard her voice. "Uhhhhhhh..." he hummed out. "Find a book or something on it... I-I d-don't really feel comfortable with th-this sorta thing, either..." he stammered.

A large sweatdrop appeared on Gabe's forehead when he pictured the two naive mages reading a book on that sort of thing. "No... I don't think that's good... Go ask Winter!" he suggested. Surely the woman had had to give a person or two "the talk" so she could do it with better ease than they could.

"Okay!" Ikaros and Yuki said together, hopping up and running over to the guild master, who was by the pond.

All four remaining mages let out sighs of relief.

Kimi was the first one to speak, clapping her hands together after letting Jared go and smiling brightly. "You know, you two are like mirrored couples. Ikaros-chan is really naive and Yuki-san is really naive!" she said, looking to Sara and Gabe. "I bet it would be really cute for you four to go on a double date!"

Gabe laughed lightly and Sara's face lit up. "Yuki-kun and I really aren't a couple..." Sara mumbled under her breath, blushing brightly.

"Well, Yuki-san's too naive to know what a date is, so you could just promise him that it's gonna be fun~" Kimi suggested, winking.

Jared's eyes turned to dots. She had a devious side like that? He wasn't sure what to think of that.

Sara couldn't help but to giggle at Kimi's words. "I think you're right about that," she said, smiling at Kimi.

* * *

Emery had found her way away from the camp to a clearing that was a few feet away from the pond. She then bloomed a bunch of flowers and sat down in the grass, letting out a sigh of comfort. She had enjoyed time with her friends, but she couldn't be around people constantly. It just didn't work well for her. She fell back in the grass and looked up at the sky. She had recovered, though she had a few scars here and there. She was glad that Adrian had returned quickly so that she could get off of nurse-duty. Her eyes started to drift closed until she heard someone walking past her. She opened one eye and saw the gray haired boy that she had fought with in the garden. She opened her eyes and glared at him. He didn't sit close to her, but he was close enough to her that she didn't feel comfortable. Oh, well, time to hope that Gwen, Lillay, or Nezuko weren't hanging around their guys. She stood, but his voice made her stop.

"What? Is the delicate flower actually scared of the big bad wolf?" he snarled, mocking her tone. He hadn't forgotten about her; apart from Azura, females tended to avoid him, so of course she stood out. Not in a romantic way, of course.

"Oh, piss off, you conceited freak!" Emery hissed, her eyes narrowing. She was NOT in the mood for dealing with his attitude again.

"What'd I tell you about watching what the hell you say?" Coyote growled, standing and turning towards her with fire in his eyes.

Emery rolled her eyes at him. "God, you're soooo scary... I'm like... Shaking or something," she said sarcastically.

Coyote shot forward and picked her up by the front of her tank-top, scowling at her. "You're a damn annoying bitch, you know?" he snapped.

Emery grabbed his wrist and pulled it off of her shirt, dropping back to the ground. "I. Don't. Like. Being. Touched... Especially by assholes like you," she said lowly, glaring up at him.

Coyote raised a fist to hit her, but roots shot up and wrapped around his wrist, slamming him to the ground as roots shot up to restrain his other wrist.

"I. Win," Emery said flatly, glaring at him. She hated him. He had to be the most annoying person in the world.

Azura, Monk, Fame and the two Exceeds came up at this point. "What the hell happened, Coyote?" Monk teased.

"Who is this?" Azura asked, placing a hand on Emery's shoulder, which instantly got slapped away. "You got a girl or something?"

Emery snorted at that.

"Hell no. Never," Coyote snarled. "Release your magic, you bitch!" he snapped at Emery.

Emery complied and rolled her eyes when he came up swinging, his tattoos glowing. She dodged and let out a sigh. "You're annoying! I'd go away if you'd stop frickin' attacking me!" she yelled, jumping into the air and kicking him the face, knocking him back.

He snarled and dashed forward again, swinging his fists until a bunch of roots wrapped around his ankle and tripped him.

"And... The big bad wolf falls again. Don't think I'm gonna have sympathy on you and let you get a hit on me again," Emery said, walking away, leaving the roots around one ankle.

"I think you're lying about her being your girl, Coyote," Monk teased, grinning. "You'd two be a perfect couple!"

"Say that again I'll rearrange your face!" Emery shouted over her shoulder.

"See? I'm pretty sure you two are perfect for each other!" Monk said, laughing and dodging Coyote's fist, even though he couldn't do much since one of his ankle was tied down.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hope you enjoyed the chapter~ Leave a review if you want. Next chapter will be the last chapter unless I can't fit both of the final battles in it.

**Review Responses**

Thanks for the reviews as always~ Love from me! Sorry if my responses are a bit... Lazy... I've got a migraine and as such tomorrows chapter may be late, too. I can't even think enough to write out good scenes. T_T

**shadowssj12 - **Yep. It's Lord and Lady Banshees, whose name, magic and other stuff will be revealed at a later date~ Oh, and I hope it's okay that I portrayed Sara as being a bit more mature... :) I see her that way when I picture her; sort of like the voice of reason in the duo. I'm happy that you liked the chapter~

**La Maitresse' Dame - **Haven is meant to be annoying. His dialogue is really hard for me to write because he has such different speaking mannerisms than everyone else. T_T I'm not sure what fiction character you are thinking of, but I think that's a common thing for enemies, though more so in romance novels than action/adventure things. I can't say when Banshee Tear will appear again, but it would esy to assume that this is just the beginning of them, since the final showdown with them is the end of this fic. :) And no, the four in the caves haven't been informed of anything yet. Winter wouldn't want it to break their concentration on trial three. :)

**Junior the Otaku - **Thanks for the congratulations. ^.^ 1,000 reviews would be amazing, but I'll really be happy if I can get to a quarter of that. :) I'm happy that you enjoy my fighting scenes so much. I hope they continue to be enjoyable, since this fic i going to be packed with them. :) I'm happy that you liked Winter's dialogue. She doesn't like people messing with her children. I'm happy that you like fluff. :D Some of the couples may be failed attempts at less-fluffy relationships, but I dunno. I'm terrible with serious romance scenes. I always think of everything as fluffy and pink like shoujo animes.

**Gureifox - **New reader, I think! Yay! You can submit bad guys or like allies that won't appear as often if you want~

**LilTimy - **No, I wouldn't just kill off a bunch of characters in the third arc like that~ That would be really mean. X_X They put the question off on Winter. XD I didn't write out that scene because I don't feel like writing Winter's explanation of "the talk"; it would be awkward for me and probably for some readers. X_X

**Hiragami Kotone - **Your first comment made me laugh, which confused my fiance. XD I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter~

**Nicky Azure - **Canon characters will be appearing soon, though they will only be in short scenes until the GMGs arc. :)


	27. Chapter 26

**Author's Note: **Hi guys~ Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

A few days later, it was time for Hikari and Mistere to fight Winter to earn their titles as S-class wizards of Silver Griffin. They stepped into the clearing with Winter's ice clone. Crystal made a giant lacrima barrier around them so that all of the other griffins could watch without being in danger of being hit by attacks. Marionette and Kai were told to choose where they wanted to go, but they would be locked in wherever they chose until the battle was over. They chose the hot springs, which now had a barrier over the entrance.

"Are you ready, my lovely children?" Winter asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"Yeah!" Hikari called. Her heart was beating fast and she was terrified but excited at the same time.

"Alright!" Winter called, her feet beginning to glow. She lifted her foot and stomped the ground, "Snowflake Magic: Floor!" she called as the floor nearly instantly froze.

Mistere began to hover with her wisps and Hikari coated her feet with thick dirt with spikes on the bottom, making ice shoes with her magic, essentially.

"Very nice," Winter noted. He hand then began to glow and as she shouted, "Snowflake Magic: Shuriken!" she threw a bunch of sharpened snowflakes from her hand.

Both of the girls dodged with ease and Winter smiled warmly at them.

Hikari jumped into the air and surrounded her fists with dirt, calling out "Earth Dragon's Drills!" as she shot forward and attempted to hit Winter with her fists.

Winter waved her hand and a large snowflake appeared in front of her, blocking Hikari with ease. The snowflake then spun rapidly, turned sideways and shot forward, causing Hikari to crash into the lacrima wall and slide down .

"Oww..." she breathed. She felt fairly strong for being able to stand up to Winter at all, but she realized that the woman hadn't moved at all. They were standing up to her, and that was all. They hadn't done any damage to her, yet.

Mistere raised her arms and wisps surrounded Winter, dancing around her. Mistere figured it would give them the upper-hand, but bright blue magic circles appeared and Winter threw snowflake shuriken at the wisps and disspelled them. Mistere winced and sent more wisps swirling around her, only to have the same outcome. _"Hey... You're going to have to distract her something for me to be able to pull off my magic," _the wisp mage explained telepathically, relieved that Winter had let them keep the lacrima bracelets for communication between them.

Hikari didn't bother to say anything, but instead looked over her shoulder to her friend and nodded, her eyes narrowed. Dirt swirled around her fists again and she charged forward, not surprised when Winter used the same snowflake barrier again. This time, when it started to spin, Hikari grabbed onto it and let it spin her around, kicking Winter in the face with her spiky boots and then jumping from the spinning mechanism before it crashed into the wall.

Mistere had gotten an opening for her magic and was surprised when Winter didn't appear to have anything that could counter it.

Hikari noticed this as well and dashed forward, punching Winter multiple times, watching as the icy body began to crack and flake away. She continued her attacks attacks until she realized something that bothered her. While she was destroying the guild master's body, it was regenerating faster than she could destroy it. She hopped back, deciding that she was wasting her magic. She was breathing heavily just from the sheer amount of movement that she had done.

Mistere looked to Hikari and back to Winter. While Hikari had been throwing punch after punch, Winter didn't seem to be fazed. Her body had already regenerated completely and she hadn't moved from her spot. They hadn't gotten anywhere.

"My, you two are quite strong," Winter commented, returning her hand back to her hip. "It's really not a surprise to me now that you made it as far as you have," she said. With that, she lifted both of her hands towards the sky and magic circles appeared everywhere. "Snowflake Magic: Snowfall!" she called as snowflake shurikens rained from the magic circle. She was highly impressed with the two females, but she had to see what they would do under pressure before she could even consider letting them pass the final trial.

"Earth Dragon's Dome!" Hikari called, watching as one of the snowflakes hit the ground and then exploded on impact. It made her quite nervous and she did't want to be hit by any of them so she brought up her large dome over herself and Mistere.

While Winter was distracted by using her own magic, Mistere too the opportunity to use her wisps to lift her up and throw her against the lacrima wall. She kept her hold on her and looked to Hikari, hoping that she had noticed.

Hikari smiled at Mistere when she looked to her and dropped the dome that she had made, realizing that the magic attack was over. She then stepped forward and stomped her foot. "Earth God's Quake!" she cried as black earth barreled towards the incapacitated woman, circling her and attacking her over and over again.

Just as they had with Stark, Mistere let her wisps burst into flames, burning the guild master at the same time.

When the attack was over, Winter's body was mostly deteriorated, but she began to sparkle and at the same time her body was regenerated and she stood, tossing her hair over her shoulder and smiling. "Excellent show, ladies," she said.

They still weren't getting anywhere, it seemed. Hikari found herself snarling and she looked to the ground and that was when she realized something. Winter had coated the floor with ice so that she would not be able to feed off of the ground and become stronger! How the heck were they supposed to do anything against her?! She found herself stepping back so that she was standing next to Mistere, her eyes narrowed in annoyance.

The same thoughts about not getting anywhere ran through Mistere's head and she felt hopeless. Winter had made it clear that they had to beat her to become S-class, but if she could regenerate her body so quickly, then what were they supposed to do?

Winter laughed lightly. "You two shouldn't give up hope so easily. Don't think you're going to be able to beat me without giving it your all!" she called. With that, she held both of her hands forward and called out, "Snowflake Magic: Hypothermia!"

The magic caused both of the girls to begin to freeze over as their magic was drained from them. It was painful and felt as if little needles were stabbing into their skin. How were they supposed to get out of this?

Mistere used her wisps, making them form a circle around her feet where the ice started and then caused them to blaze, melting away the ice. She then hovered further into the air and did the same to Hikari, helping her out of the ice.

"You know... You two really need to try harder," Winter said, folding her arms behind her back. "This isn't about standing up to me, but fighting me!" She was only trying to get the girls to become angry with her. She wanted to see them at their strongest.

Hikari could already feel herself getting low on magic and she wondered how much Winter actually expected of them. She tried to think of what she could do. She didn't see her Secret Art being much of a help since Winter would just be able to regenerate herself and she wasn't sure how much her scythe would help in this situation, either. Maybe that was her best bet, though. So, she pulled her scythe from her back and brought the flute handle up to her mouth, beginning to play a song that was meant to paralyze Winter.

Winter was surprised when she actually found her body becoming stiff. She thought it would be a magic that worked on life force or blood, but it seemed to be a magic the affected the very soul of a person. Impressive.

Hikari was a bit thrown off as well when her magic actually worked on the guild master. She wondered what her next move should be, deciding to go with a roar. So, her stomach swelled as she cried out, "Earth God's Bellow!" and shot out a flurry of black earth at Winter.

The snowflake mage was hit with the blast and part of her body was blown away with it.

Hikari didn't let up, though. She knew that she couldn't. So, her stomach swelled again as she yelled, "Earth Dragon's Roar!" and sent out a flurry of pure dirt towards the guild master in a attempt to blow her away completely.

Mistere knew that she needed to help as well so she sent her wisps out to catch the remainders of Winter on fire, destroying more of her.

Sparkles that had once made up the guild master's body flowed through the air and Hikari and Mistere thought that maybe they had actually managed to get something done, but soon, the flakes of ice began to accumulate in the spot that Winter had been standing and her body reappeared, the same warm smile on her face.

Hikari's eye twitched and she felt a feeling of hopelessness bubbling up in her stomach. She stepped back until her back was touching the lacrima wall and ran everything that she was capable of doing through her head. She could try to enter Dragon Force, but without being able to get to the dirt, she would have problems sustaining it without getting tired really quickly. She couldn't get to the earth, either. Even when she had caused the mini earthquake, the ice that Winter had created had coated the earth again before she was able to get to anything. Even Mistere's fire didn't seem to be having an affect on the icy ground.

Mistere's eyes narrowed and had she not been floating, she probably would have stomped her foot in annoyance. She had thought that their attack was well executed, but it didn't seem to have worked in the end, just as she suspected. No matter how much Winter's body was destroyed, the outcome was still the same. She looked to Hikari and saw that she was breathing heavily.

"You know... An S-class mage has to fight when under pressure... Doubt is human, but overcoming that doubt is what makes us strong," Winter said. "If you want to give up, you can, or you can overcome the doubt and fear that is in your hearts and continue to fight until the very end..."

Hikari and Mistere exchanged glances before Hikari spoke. "You're right, Ob-Winter," she said. It just didn't feel right referring to the young woman as "Obaachan" like she was used to doing. Dirt surrounded her fists and she held one arm out. "Earth Dragon's Drill Shot!" she called as one of the drills that were surrounding her fist shot towards Winter like a bullet.

Winter jumped into air to dodge.

Hikari leaped into the air as well and punched Winter in the side. She then spun and coated her leg with earth, bashing it over Winter's head.

Part of Winter's skull cracked, revealing nothing but ice magic and the mage grabbed Hikari's other leg, freezing it almost instantly and absorbing a good chunk of her magic before throwing her to the ground.

Hikari let out a cry of pain and skidded against the ice before crashing into the barrier. Her head hit barrier pretty hard and she found herself in a daze. "Owww..." she mumbled under her breath.

"Are you okay?" Mistere asked, floating over to her and extending a hand to her. When Hikari took it and stood, Mistere let out a relieved sigh.

"I don't know what we are supposed to do," Hikari finally said once she saw Winter heal once more. Was it taking magic to do that? And how much magic did the old lady have?

"Me either," Mistere said, frowning as she turned to face Winter. "We can't give up, though, Hikari!" she said, her eyes narrowing . Maybe her magic would help. She landed on the ground, careful not to move too much since she couldn't walk on ice. She held her arms out and magic circles appeared under her, the sheer magic pressure lifting her blue locks. "Foreboding Sense!" she cried out, sending a burst of pure wisp energy towards Winter.

Even though Winter jumped in the air, the magic wave still washed over and then seemed to explode, destroying her body again. She was proud of the two that she was fighting. They just needed to learn what it meant to not give up; that was all she was looking for in them, now. Her body reformed and her eyes widened in surprise when Hikari was on her, punching her with a blackened earth coated fist, completely destroying her head with it's power.

Hikari was surprised by the power of her punch, but she didn't stop there. She spun to put herself higher in the air than Winter and then kicked her with both black-earth covered legs, destroying the rest of her body. The mage then landed on the ground and stumbled forward, only caught her friend. Her head was screaming at her that she was doing too much and that she was getting dangerously low on magic. That wasn't a surprise to her though, considering how much magic she had already used.

"Hikari... Don't push yourself over the edge," Mistere said, holding Hikari's shoulder. She was starting to worry about her friend. She had used so many spells during such a small time frame and the wisp mage found it wondrous that the girl was even able to stand.

Hikari shook her head, leaning her hands on her knees and trying to catch her breath. She could feel Mistere's pulse through her shoulder and by the rapid pacing of it was able to deduce that the wisp mage was just as tired. This battle wasn't looking so good. Hikari had planned to roar at the ice particles before they reformed, but she was pretty sure now that using another spell like that would cause her to pass out.

Winter's body reformed and she landed on the ground in front of the girls. They weren't going to be able to handle much more and she was actually okay with this. She felt as though both of them had given it their all in the conditions that they were in. However, she didn't have time to announce that they were S-class wizards before the two girls attacked her.

Hikari pulled out her scythe and swung it, slashing one of her arms off, while Mistere summoned a blue and white staff that she used to bash part of Winter's side in. The two continued to fight with their weapons, no longer using magic, but instead slicing and bashing away at her as fast as they could. It was a last resort, but it seemed to be doing some damage.

Winter let her body be bashed into nothing and then reformed away from the girls. When they charged at her, she made a snowflake barrier, though she didn't make it spin and toss them away this time. "You two may stop attacking at any time... Your trial has ended..."

Hikari stepped back and eyes widened. "But... We're still fighting..." she mumbled, panic making her voice slightly shriller than usual. Sure, they probably didn't stand a chance at beating her, but they were still capable of fighting. They weren't on the ground and their lacrima bracelets weren't even flashing red. Why was she calling their trial off?

Mistere felt her stomach sink and she stepped back, unequiping her staff with magic. Her eyes fell to the ground, but she didn't speak. She agreed with Hikari, though. They could fight.

Winter laughed lightly. "You will not beat me in this body unless you run me out of magic, which will take you all day of using your weapons to do, sweet children," she said.

Why was she laughing? That was so offensive! Hikari could feel the tears stinging her eyes and she wanted to drop to her knees and bawl. She didn't know what to do. They were willing to fight all day if it was to earn their title as S-class wizards... Well, she was, and she had faith that Mistere was, too.

"Besides... I think that you have passed, anyway," Winter said. "You were able to prove to me that you were strong and that you were willing to continue fighting by any means, and I think that that is good representation of the guild..."

"Wait... We didn't beat you, though," Mistere said. She wanted to feel happy about passing, but she didn't believe Winter yet. Their guild master seemed to be a prankster, after all.

"Oh... You wouldn't have... I don't expect the other team to, either," Winter said, waving it off. The lacrima barrier around them dropped and she turned to the crowd that had been watching the fight. "Please do not tell Marionette or Kai anything about the trial. There is a reason that they are supposed to stay away from the camp during this fight... If anyone says anything at all, punishment will be in their future!"

Hikari stared, dumbfounded. "Wait... Are you serious...? I mean... Are we really S-class?" she asked. She could feel herself shaking in excitement and disbelief.

Winter nodded. "When return to the guild hall, I will need to have portraits of you two made. Wear your regular clothing, please," she said. She then turned to the crowd. "Congratulate two new S-class mages!" she said.

Some of the crowd clapped, while the more antisocial mages departed from the crowd.

Mistere and Hikari smiled at each other and were about to congratulate each other when Kimi tackled them, wrapping an arm around both of them. "I'm so proud of you two~" Kimi cheered, spinning them around before letting go and skipping back.

"Thank you!" Hikari said, grinning at her friend. "You gotta make it next year so our team will be S-class," she said.

"I'll try my best~" Kimi said, twirling around. "We'll still go on missions together, right?" she asked.

"Of course!" Mistere and Hikari said together.

"We're a team, and we always will be," Mistere said, smiling brightly at Kimi and Hikari.

* * *

**1 week later...**

Marionette and Kai found them inside the lacrima barrier with the young, icy Winter. Kai had questioned everyone on what they were could expect, but they had been informed that the only thing that could be revealed was the fact that Hikari and Mistere had made it to S-class. That alone had given Marionette some hope; it wasn't that she thought she and Kai were better than the two girls, but it let her know that Winter was beatable.

"Hey, you two," Winter said, smiling warmly. "Are you two ready, my sweet children?" she asked, placing a hand on her hip.

Marionette nodded and Kai stepped forward, removing his broadsword from his back and coating it with light magic. The male light mage darted forward at incredible speed and cried out, "Light Magic: Light Buster!" as he sliced his sword over Winter's shoulder, completely amputating her arm. Kai hadn't expected her limbs to come off so easily and he found his eyes widening as he stared at Winter. At least it was a bloodless process.

Winter smiled to herself when she realized that the situation had caught Kai off-guard. That wasn't good for an S-class wizard. They needed to expect everything. So, she grabbed one of Kai's shoulders with her remaining arm and sent a pulse of her magic absorbing ice through his shoulder while her other arm regenerated.

Kai grimaced in pain, but he was saved by Marionette as the female light mage called out, "Light Magic: Balle!" and shot a series of light bullets at Winter, destroying most of her torso and the arm that was holding Kai.

Kai grinned at Marionette and then jumped back, his sword still in one hand. His shoulder now had a few cuts on it, as the ice had cut through his skin. It stung, but it wasn't a bad injury.

Marionette decided that if they wanted to get the upper-hand at all, they didn't need to let up on the attacks so a magic circle appeared in front of her palm, which was held up and she shot out a beam of light, shouting, "Light Magic: Strike-Through!"

Due to the current state of her body, Winter was unable to avoid the attack that destroyed the rest of her torso. She let the rest of her body shatter, sparkles filling the air. The light mages were extremely quick and she didn't have quite as much time to regenerate as she had with the first bttle.

Kai and Marionette exchanged confused glances. Had they really won that easily? "Um," Kai started, but he let out a surprises yelp when snowflake shuriken rained down on them. He quickly grabbed Marionette, who had been hit with a few of the snowflakes and used his broadsword as a shield from the falling weapons.

Marionette's eyes narrowed in annoyance at their closeness, but at the same time, she had to feel a little thankful. Neither of them really had large-scale defensive techniques, so this was the best defense they had. She watched as Winter regenerated and the snowfall stopped.

"You two are doing wonderfully," Winter said, tossing her hair over her head. "However, please do not think that strength alone is enough to make it to S-class," she said. With that, she held both hands forward and called, "Snowflake Magic: Hypothermia!"

Marionette and Kai felt themselves freezing, the same freezing that Kai's shoulder had already been damaged by. Kai felt a bit helpless at first, just because he was thrown off by the sheer pain that started in his feet and ankles and crept up his body. He then marked himself as an idiot before holding his arms out at his side. "Light Magic: Sunflare Burst!" Bright light burst from every part of his body and shattered the ice around him and Marionette.

Marionette stumbled forward, surprised by the attack at first. She then realized that she needn't be caught off guard and her eyes narrowed as she stepped forward. "Light Magic: Lumière du Soleil!" she spoke loudly, holding both of her arms out as glowing white magic circles lit up the floor around her. A wisp danced out from the magic and circled around Winter, striking her and duplicating, repeatedly striking her. The spell was designed for multiple enemies, but in a case like this where the target didn't seem focused on attempting to dodge, it worked well. Marionette wondered why Winter wasn't dodging their attacks and she concluded that the guild master was testing their strength. What better way to do that than to directly take the attacks? Marionette assumed that the ice body didn't feel pain.

When Winter's body was mostly destroyed, Kai practically teleported forward, his fists coated with light as he shouted, "Light Magic: Sunflare Punch!" and punched through the remainder of her body. He then flipped back, landing beside Marionette.

"She will most likely be reforming in a few seconds," Marionette sighed, folding her arms across her chest. She was starting to wonder what they were supposed to accomplish in this fight. Maybe she would run out of magic if they fought long enough. Maybe that was their goal. Her eyes dropped to the ground as she thought of the best way to run a high-leveled mage out of magic. Her eyes widened when a thought crossed her mind and she smirked. _"Kai... Could you get close to her until she attacks you? I know this is a ridiculous request, but I do have a plan," _she asked Kai telepathically.

_"What's in it for me?" _Kai responding in a joking manner. _"I'd gladly do it for a ki-" _

_"We really do NOT have time for this!" _Marionette snapped telepathically, trying to conceal the anger in her face so that Winter, who had regenerated, wouldn't realize that they were talking.

_"Anything for my queen," _Kai responded, shooting her a flirtatious grin before readying his sword and charging in, feinting as he swung his sword and then kneed Winter in the stomach, cracking her torso.

Marionette waited, concentrating on the battle in front of her. As soon as Winter's hand landed on Kai's shoulder, the light mage's eyes opened wide and turned bright yellow. "Imitation Magic!" she called, ice covering her hands. "Move, Kai!" she barked as she rushed forward. Kai hopped over her and she ducked under his legs and placed her icy hands on either side of Winter's torso. She had to admit that the spell required a lot of magic and she wondered if she would even be able to sustain it enough to make progress with it.

"My, my..." Winter said, smiling at Marionette. "I did not know you had a form of copy magic," she said. She could feel her magic being drained, but she also saw the strained look in Marionette's eyes. She was trying hard with this.

Not wanting to run herself out of magic, Marionette jumped back, breathing heavily and dropping her magic, her eyes returning to their normal color.

"Wow! I didn't know you had that kind of magic!" Kai cheered, beaming at Marionette with admiration.

"No one ever asked," Marionette responded. "And I lacked reasons to use it on you when training since we are of the same alignment."

"You need to rest... I'll go in, now!" Kai said, his sword glimmering with such a bright light that the entire area that was inside the lacrima began to glow. He was putting as much magic as he could into his sword; Marionette was trying her best and so would he! He charged forward, but as he went to slash at Winter, a snowflake barrier appeared. His sword collided with it as it began to spin and the horrible sound of metal grinding screeched through the barrier. Kai put all of his strength into his sword, but the snowflake wall still managed to spin, yanking to the sword out of his hand and then tossing him into the air. "Dammit!" he hissed under his breath, twisting around in air just in time to avoid snowflake shuriken, though the sharp little crystals did cut through his shirt. He reached out and grabbed his blade, screaming furiously as his blade crashed into Winter's skull and sliced through her body, making the ice vessel burst into sparkles.

Marionette had to say that she was ever-so-slightly impressed by Kai's dexterity and ability to take down Winter with one swing of his sword. Not that it mattered, still. She was regenerating, of course. Deciding to test what would happen, she held her palms forward and called, "Light Magic: Strike-Through" and fired off a bright beam of light at the particles that were in the air, watching as they spread out.

Kai had been watching, too and he copied her. "Light Magic: Sunflare Beam!" he called, switching his sword from one hand and shooting a laser-like beam from a magic circle that spun in font of his hand, making the particles scatter. _"Oi, m'lady... What do you think we happen if we keep this up? Do you think it takes magic for her to stay in that state?" _he asked telepathically, firing off another Sunflare Beam.

Marionette cast her Strike-Through magic again and responded to Kai. _"I honestly do not know. I would not be able to imitate Soul Transfer easily to figure out how the magic works," _she said, rolling her eyes at his nicknames, but not commenting on it.

Kai darted back until he was standing beside her. _"You think our Unison Raid would work well to get her down?" _he asked.

_"...I do not know that, either. I would worry with using it for fear that I would not have enough magic to stand afterwords," _Marionette responded hesitantly. She was worried about it. She did not want to risk failing on the final trial, even though a part of her felt as though they were going nowhere fast.

_"I'll just hold you up!" _Kai said. His carefree attitude led him not to worry as much as his cautious partner. Of course, he didn't want to lose, either, but he plenty of faith in them.

Marionette rolled her eyes and didn't even respond, thinking that such ridiculous words din't warrant a response. Winter would be able to tell that she was about to pass out and she would probably just call off the last trial because what's the point of dragging something on when there is no chance of one side winning? She had completely lose herself in her own little thoughts when she felt Kai's arm wrap around her shoulders and she looked up at him with annoyance already glimmering in her eyes. She saw his grin and her eyes only narrowed further.

"C'mon... Don't lose face. Let's try this!" Kai said, squeezing her shoulder that were further away from him. He could tell that there seemed to be a lot on her mind and he knew it all boiled down to the fact that she was being too cautious with the battle.

Winter had just started to reform when she saw the two grab hands and begin emitting a strong amount of magic. She had been having problems regenerating due to the amount of times they had hit her and the fact that Marionette had taken a good chunk of her magic. She was thinking that the two may actually cause her to lose her Soul Transfer, which would be astounding. When she realized what they were doing, she smiled. This was something that she wanted to see and feel for herself. She had witnessed it through lacrima vision when she was watching over the battles, but now she was going to see just how their Unison Raid worked. Marvelous!

Once they felt as though they had poured enough magic into each other, Kai and Marionette opened their eyes and together they yelled, "Unison Raid!"

Light surrounded Winter and her crystalline body was destroyed as soon as the orbs of light began to fire at her. She didn't bother to begin the process of regenerating as the magic gathered and surrounded all of the particles, attempting to burn them away. It was a glorious magic indeed, and she had to commend the two who had managed to survive and recover from it. If she had been in her real body, there was no doubt in her mind that it would had obliterated her feeble body. She was highly impressed with the two mages. They hadn't been working together for that long, but they managed to pull off such a spectacular magic that even masters of magic had struggled with.

When the magic was over, Marionette's head spun and pounded as pain set in and she found herself leaning heavily on Kai. "Do not take this the wrong way," she said as he wrapped one of his arms around her to help support her.

"Aw... What if I wanna, though?" Kai teased. When Marionette shot daggers at him with her eyes, he laughed at her, still holding her up.

Marionette was offended. "You are so annoying... So profoundly annoying... I'm going to be happy to take a break from you!" she growled. Her legs decided at that point that they were no longer going to support her and she found herself falling to her knees, Kai sinking down with her. "You know, I do not need support when I am on the ground," she said dryly.

"I'm just enjoying the opportunity to hold you," Kai said, grinning.

Marionette attempted to squirm out of his arms and when she failed due to lack of energy, she huffed and stuck her nose up to him. "Like I said... This has no romantic meaning," she hissed. They were in front of all of the strong members of the guild; this was humiliating. Kai didn't seem to have any problem with it, though. Looks like he had no problems giving people the wrong idea. She would make it clear, though, if need be.

Winter finally managed to regenerate herself and placed her hands on hips. "That was brilliant work, you two," she commented. "I really do have children to be proud of in this guild. I think I knew that, but I think that this exam has brought all of us closer together as a family," she said.

Marionette's eyes narrowed when Winter regenerated herself with relative ease. She had noticed that it seemed to be taking just a bit more time than usual, but apart from that, they didn't really seem to be having an affect on her. She didn't know how much more she was going to be able to fight. Kai had his broadsword and she had replaced the dagger in her boot, but apart from that, they had nothing. While Kai wasn't in quite the condition that she was in, she could hear his heart pounding in his chest and occasionally, he would shake or let out a strained breath which let her know that he was struggling.

Kai didn't want to lose hope, so when Winter regenerated, he slowly let go of Marionette, making sure that she had time to stabilize herself on the ground and then stood, holding his sword with both hands.

"Dear child, there is no reason to charge with that," Winter said, waving her hands in dismissal. "The trial is over..." she added.

Determination flashed across Kai's face and he still held his sword. "Marionette's bracelet isn't flashing and I'm still standing... Why would you call the trial off?" he called.

"Because you have impressed me enough to say that you both have won," Winter responded, smiling brightly.

"We did not defeat you," Marionette pointed out.

"Neither did the team before you, but they have been deemed S-class wizards," Winter responded. "It is nearly impossible for someone of your age to beat someone who has had over half a century more experience than you," she said. "I don't want to sound conceited, but I doubt that anyone here would be able to beat me," she added. No one could hear inside the barrier, so it was okay for her to say that without some of the hot tempered mages attacking her.

"So... We're S-class, too?" Kai asked, placing his sword on his back.

The barrier dropped and Winter nodded. "This exam has been quite successful!" Winter announced. "We now have a total of ten S-class mages in our ranks! I would like everyone to congratulate them!"

As with Hikari and Mistere, some of the mages applauded and the ones who didn't really care for congratulating their guild members departed from the crowd.

"I need you two to talk to me in your regular clothing when we return to the guild hall," Winter said. She walked off and Crystal caught up to her.

"You know, I think you made this exam too easy... I mean, ten S-class wizards in one guild? Aren't you being too light-hearted on these hoodlums?" the younger snowflake mage asked.

"No... I don't think so," Winter responded. "And what is wrong with having a lot of S-class mages? I think that all of them are more than capable of taking on S-class missions and if it wasn't for the fact that they feel as if they need to earn it, I would promote everyone on this island to S-class."

"You are too soft... One day you're going to realize that, and I hope that it isn't too late when you do," Crystal said in a bitter voice.

"Yeah, yeah... Tell me something that you haven't told me a thousand times, sister," Winter said sarcastically.

Meanwhile, Leo, Danny, Jared, Stark, Eira, and Nezuko surrounded Kai and Marionette to congratulate them. After the celebratory hugs and words, Kai's eyes dropped to Stark's stomach, where there were black wounds that were still trying to heal. He had been cured of the poison, but he and Fame had been left with black wounds. "What the heck happened?" he asked.

"Oh... You guys missed some stuff," Stark said, his smile faded. "We were attacked by two members of a guild named Banshee Tear..." he explained. "They stole the Exceeds and lured us in... Then poisoned us," he started, recalling the entire fight against Banshee Tear.

Once Stark was done, Danny and Nezuko filled them in on what had went down with the investigation teams and then the group that had had to retrieve the anti-venom.

"Why were we not pulled out of the caves to help?!" Marionette snapped, her hands balling into fists. She couldn't believe it! Her guild had been attacked and she had been stuck wondering around a bunch of caves. She noticed that the conversation had peaked the interest of Mistere and Hikari and she turned to them. "Did anyone tell you two about this, either?"

Hikari shook her head. "No..." she said in a soft voice. She felt the same way as Marionette about it, but she wanted to try to keep her temper down since she was around people that she didn't know well.

"I don't think Winter wanted to call off the exams because it would have hurt your feelings," Danny said. "Besides, we got everything taken care of..."

"Still, I think all of us would have preferred to be defending the guild than doing the exam," Marionette said.

Kai wrapped his arm around Marionette. "Calm down, my love... It's too late now to do anything about it," he said. He was annoyed, yes, but he wasn't going to dwell on something that was in the past.

"One, nickname. Two, arm off. Three, I am irritated about this," Marionette said, glaring at him and moving his arm off of her shoulders.

"Okay... Okay... You can vent if you want," Kai said, holding his hands up defensively.

Hikari agreed with Marionette still, but she decided to be cheerful. This was supposed to be a joyous occasion, right? "Why don't we all head to the hotsprings and just enjoy our vacation?" she suggested.

With that, they parted ways from the field that they had fought in and headed for the hotsprings, determined to enjoy their last few days before they had to take missions again.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hope you enjoyed the battles! Leave a review if you want. Honestly, I hope no one is too upset that no one lost to Winter, but that's the way the generator made it and I can personally see that anyway because even though Crystal is mean, she's right... Winter can be too light-hearted sometimes. Erm... That's the end of the arc! The next arc will be 5-10 chapters long and will be a mini-arc that will involve one mission that takes 5 teams. There will be some other stuff that goes on after the mission that will be character development stuff. The GMGs will start in 2-3 weeks. :)

**Review Responses**

****Thank you all so much for the reviews~ Lots of love from me as usual. Anyway, sorry if my review responses aren't the best. This is the second day in a row that I'm going on little sleep. X_X I've been busy and having trouble sleeping... Not a good combo. X_X

**La Maitresse' Dame -** It's fine. I'm sleepy right now. XD Yuki is 14 and Ikaros is 15... They're just a bit naive. I don't know if I have said their ages, to be honest. I'm happy that you enjoyed the scene between Kai and Marionette. Coyote and Emery would be perfect for each other. :)

**LilTimy - **I'm happy that the scene made you laugh. :) And I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

**Rin Ice Miyako - **I hope that wasn't too OOC for her. I imagine her doing it more for Cross than anything.

**shadowssj12 - **I'm happy that it was amusing for you. And I'm glad that I portray Sara okay.

**iheartfairytail21 - **That's fine. I understand being busy. :) I'm happy that you've been enjoying the chapters and I hope that you continue to enjoy the story. :)

**Nicky Azure - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter! And yes, they were saved! :D I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Hiragami Kotone - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter. Thank you for the congratulations and I'll honestly be happy if I just make it to a quarter of that. :) I think the Kimi and Jared fluff is always cute. Due to Kimi's nature, their romance will probably always be fluffy. XD I hope you enjoyed the battles in this one. :D


	28. Chapter 27 xFestivals and Hearts Arc

**Author's Note:** Hi, guys~New arc! Upon digging through my notes, I found some stuff that I was going to include that I... Forgot about... As such, this may actually be 5-15 chapters long, though I doubt it will be much over 10. I will be starting the GMGs in two-three weeks, though and this arc is going to have battles and character development, mostly the latter, so it is important. I'll try to keep it nice and interesting, 'kay? Oh, on top of that, you're going to get to see me fail with canon characters. :D I do look forward to it, though I'm nervous! D:

Enjoy~

*****Warning:*** **

**This chapter contains alcohol abuse for a short period of time.**

* * *

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

_*1 day ago*_

_Upon arriving back at the guild, most of the mages decided to go check up on their homes and get unpacked. Coyote, Fame, Azura and Monk were the first ones back to the guild and the walked into the empty hall to see Winter talking to a tall, slender woman with naturally narrowed brown eyes, blonde hair that was pulled into a bun on top of her head and noticeably large pointed nose that resembled the beak of a bird with the way it curved downward. She was dressed in a dark blue business suit with a small pendant on the left side of her chest. Upon inspection, the pendant was dark blue with a white moon and star on it. _

_Azura felt her heart start pounding when she recognized the family crest that was on the pendant. "Why are they here?" she mumbled under her breath._

_"Hey, Azura," Monk placed a hand on her shoulder when she started to hug herself and refused to go any further into the guild hall. _

_"Azu?" Artemis questioned, confused by her friend's behavior._

_When the woman's eyes landed on Azura, she shot Winter an annoyed glare and walked over to the lunar dragon slayer. "Ah, there you are, Miss Azura," she said in an emotionless voice. "Your uncle, Henry Celeste, has ordered you to come back to the estate. You are property of the family and we need you for testing," she explained._

_"Cadence! I don't care how important you were to my daughter at one point, I am not letting you take my granddaughter!" Winter shouted. She walked over as quickly as her old body would let her. "I demand that you leave my guild right now or I will be taking violent measures!" she growled. _

_Azura's eyes narrowed at the woman as well. She remembered Cadence, barely. She had been one of her mom's best friends and she was often times at their house when she was young. Her mom always told her that she had met her father through Cadence. "I'm not leaving the guild," she said in a flat voice. _

_"Yeah, don't think you can just come in and take our members!" Monk chimed in. All three of the guys were watching, Monk and Fame with narrowed eyes and Coyote with fake disinterest. _

_"This does not concern any of you," Cadence huffed. "Now, come, Azura," she said. Before Azura could even respond, Cadence began to freeze, her eyes widening in pain and her face distorted. The process was much faster than what it had been Winter used it in the S-class exams. _

_Once the woman was frozen solid, Winter growled. "Take her away... Dump her under a bridge to die for all it matters..." she hissed to Fame, Coyote and Monk. The three guys complied and Winter turned to Azura. "I do not want you leaving the guild until this blows over. No questions!" she snapped before storming off._

* * *

**Now...**

Azura let out a small hiccup and then took another long sip out of the mug that was in front of her. "You know... I come from a rich family called the Celeste family... They specialized in magic like Star Make and Constellation magic..." she slurred out, speaking to her team, who were sitting at a table with her. She had not taken the events of the previous day lightly. Winter had kept an eye on her all day and no matter how much she argued, she didn't seem to be getting anywhere closer to getting out of the guild hall. Even when ll of the other mages had returned, Winter kept her eye on her.

"Azu, it's the middle of the day, do you really think you should be drinking so much?" Artemis asked, worry in her voice.

"Don't care..." Azura said, leaning against the table after finishing her fourth or fifth mug full of alcohol. She reeked and her eyes were glazed.

"Is that so...?" Monk asked, staring with pity at the girl. None of the guys were drinking; it wasn't that they didn't drink, but they didn't drink a lot in the middle of the day. This was awkward.

The guild had returned to normal and everyone was bustling around. Some mages had already taken missions and everything was so noisy that no one even noticed the state that Azura was in.

Well, that was until three mages, all cloaked in dark blue robes that were decorated with the Celeste family crest burst through the doors. Their faces were hidden and so a lot of eyes landed on them. "We're here to take Azura. That is all. We will not fight if she comes to us without resisting," one of them announced.

Azura stood, stumbling a bit and removing the katanas from her back. "I'm not goin' anywhere," she slurred, her eyes narrowed in anger, though they were glazed with intoxication.

"My god," Fame mumbled as he stood, flipping his hair. She was too wasted to fight. Anyway... Even if he felt like he hated them sometimes, he wasn't going to let anyone take his teammates.

Monk stood as well. "You may wanna be careful with those things," he said to the drunken girl, laughing at Azura's poor state.

Coyote stood last. "I'm only doing this because it's a chance for a battle," he said, making it clear that he wasn't doing anything for Azura.

"Let's speed things up, shall we?" Monk said, bringing his hands together under his chin. "Barah Gonza," he mumbled under his breath as two orbs floated from his hands, attaching to Fame and Coyote.

"What's this?" Fame asked, watching as his body began to glow, feeling lighter and easier to move.

"It's a blessing that speeds you two up," Monk responded, activating his own Fighter's Aura.

All three of the hooded figures had used Star-Make magic to create swords and shields, but they didn't even have time to do anything before Fame, Coyote and Monk each punched one of them, sending them crashing through the guild's doors.

Winter was at the back of the room, making her way to the front with a devious smile on her face. "Beat them to the ground, boys!" she cheered, not even caring that the guild's large wooden doors had just been demolished.

The three wizards didn't even get a chance to land an attack on any of the guys before they were on the ground in front of the guild, piled together in a bloody, bruised, electrified mess.

Monk cracked his knuckles and laughed. "Looks like we really put a hurtin' on them! I'm the hardest fist you'll ever meet! Don't mess with my teammates!"

Coyote mocked Monk as he spoke, rolling his eyes. "Tch. You three are stupid to even call yourselves wizards," he huffed.

"Eh, piece of cake. I didn't even have to break a sweat," Fame said, flipping his hair.

The three turned to go back to the guild, only to be half-tackled, half stumbled into by a drunken Azura, who wrapped her arms around them to bring them closer, her blades still in her hands.

"The hell?!" Coyote growled, tilting his head so that he didn't end up getting his ear chopped off.

"Seriously..." Fame breathed, having to do the same. "You smell terrible, Azura, and why the hell are you doing this?"

Azura hiccuped and then sobbed. "You guys are the best..." she whimpered out, starting to cry as the alcohol altered her personality. She felt so sloppy. She just wanted to cry and drink more, but she was happy that her teammates protected her. So happy she could just snuggle them.

Unfortunately for the intoxicated mage, her teammates weren't as affectionate. Together, all three of them pushed her off, causing her to fall back on her tailbone and drop her swords. She hiccuped again and stared up at them with watery eyes that made her look like a lost puppy. "You... You're all so mean..." she slurred, tears streaming down her face. She had no idea what she was doing. She didn't want to cry... Maybe...

"Awww... What the fu-" Fame said, only to catch a glimpse of Coyote and Monk from the corner of his eye and see that they were touching their noses. "What's wrong with you two?" he asked, arching a brow.

"Not it!" Monk called, his lips curling up into a grin.

Coyote had only listened to Monk when he had silently pleaded with him to touch his nose, just to get the annoying mage to shut up, but when he pieced everything together, he quickly coughed out, "Not it!"

"Oh, wait. What?" Fame's eyes widened. "No! Hell no! I'm not dealing with her alone! You two can go crawl in a ditch or something!" Dark lines dripped from his forehead and his eyes dulled when he felt something clinging to his leg. He looked down to see Azura staring up at him, still crying. He wondered how bad her hangover would be later. He also wondered what the hell he was supposed to do.

"Why does no one like me...?" she whimpered. What the hell was she saying? Why was she saying this stuff? Was this what alcohol did? No... She had drank before and she usually just felt like flirting more, or fighting. Maybe it was because she was stressed... Either way, she couldn't control it.

Fame looked up to see that Coyote and Monk had already vanished. "I will kill them..." Fame hissed. At least he knew where Azura stayed. He would just carry her and drop her off at home or something. So, he lifted her up and began to walk, Nikko sitting in the hood of his hoodie and Artemis flying beside him. Azura began to babble about an ice mage that she had known when she was younger and how she wanted to see him again or something. Fame ignored her as he walked.

"She's so drunk... I hope she'll be okay," Artemis said as they walked.

Azura flopped back, dead weight in Fame's arm. "I'm... I think... Erm... Drunk," she slurred. "...Where are we goin'?" she asked, sitting up and looking at Fame. "Your hair, it reminds me of a pillow," she pointed out, reaching up and grabbing one of Fame's platinum and blue locks.

"Don't touch my hair," he said, pulling his hair away from her by craning his neck back. That was a pet peeve of him. He didn't want anyone grimy hands in his hair.

"Gaaaahhhhh," Azura groaned, falling back again. "Arrrrrtteeemisss... I forgot... My swords... "she whined. "Why am I so forgetful...?" she whimpered, tears filling her eyes again.

"Don't cry again," Fame sighed. This was stressful for him. It was everything he had not to drop her in the middle of street.

"I'll go get her swords," Artemis said, turning around.

Fame found her apartment and twisted the doorknob to find that it was locked. He stood for a moment, debating what he was supposed to do. Eventually, he dropped her on the ground. "...Not my problem," he mumbled, flipping his hair and walking off, passing Artemis on the way back to the guild.

* * *

**A few days later...**

"Kimi..." Hikari's voice was soft as she talked to the pink mage, flinching as Kimi shot out another ball of flames that collided with the ground, exploded and burned out after a few moments. The pink mage was extremely angry about something, Cantrelle had informed her and Mistere of it and they had been trying to talk to their friend, only to find that they were being ignored.

"Hey..." Mistere started, placing a hand on Kimi's shoulder and feeling her freeze up. "What's wrong? I don't think I've ever seen you this mad..."

Kimi was silent for a minute before she fell to her knees and began to sob uncontrollably. She had been trying to release her emotions in the form of magic, but it wasn't working anymore.

"Kimi-chan..." Hikari mumbled, kneeling to be beside the girl and wrapping an arm around her. She had no idea what could be going on... Unless... She didn't see a certain dark mage around anywhere. "Did Jared do something to you?" she asked.

Kimi sobbed and nodded. "He was acting really weird and then he left again without telling me anything and leaving a message with Winter..." she explained in a tiny voice, her hands balling up around her skirt. Again. He had left again. How many times was he going to do this?

Mistere frowned and wrapped an arm around Kimi, hugging her. She couldn't find a level of empathy. Sure, she had been asked out and still not talked to by the guy who asked her out, but she didn't really have feelings for him, either, and that was the closest thing she had to Kimi's situation.

Hikari was silent for a moment before she spoke. "His magic... It's dangerous, you know?" she said. She still hadn't talked to Kimi about the magic. He had the power of Zeref, though his magic wasn't as developed. She was sure of it!

"So...?" Kimi breathed. "All magic is dangerous... It's the nature of one's heart that determines whether or not one is dangerous," she explained. She had stopped crying already and was staring at the ground. She was thinking of what she could do to make her situation better. "I'm... I'm going to go after him!" she decided, her eyes narrowing. "I don't know what he's doing, but something's really bothering him... I know it...! I want to be there for him!" She knew his magic was dangerous, even to him. She didn't want him to fall into the darkness.

Hikari smiled when she said that. "Then we'll help you!" she offered. She knew she wasn't one to talk about Jared's magic, since she was the one who could absorb that kind of magic and if Kimi wasn't afraid to deal with that kind of magic, then she would help her.

"No," Kimi said flatly. She then smiled at Hikari and Mistere. "I'd love for you two to help me, but I think this is something that will be better for me to do alone..." her voice trailed off and then, with tears in the corner of her eyes, she added, "Besides, something may happen... I can't bare the thought of you two being danger because of me~"

Mistere and Hikari flinched at that. "Then we'll definitely go with you," Mistere said. "We can help!"

Kimi shook her head just as Hikari opened her mouth to agree with Mistere. "No... I wanna do this alone~ It's better that way~" she said. She then stood and dusted herself off. She helped Mistere and Hikari up and pulled them into tight hugs. "I'm strong... I'll be okay~ And I'll get things worked out with that stubborn mage~"

"Kimi..." Hikari returned the hug, feeling tears swelling in her eyes. If they had been alone and not near healing mages during the S-class exams, she would have bled out and died, no doubt... She would be alone, this time and if it happened again...

The same thoughts ran through Mistere' head and she returned the hug. "Are you sure...?" she asked in a soft voice. "It would be safer..."

"I'm sure," Kimi said, stepping back and twirling. "I'm gonna leave after packing a backpack," she said. "Thank you two so much for talking to me~ You should go on your first S-class mission while I'm gone~"

"Maybe..." Hikari responded. She would be worried about Kimi and the thought of going on a mission while she was gone made her feel as though she would worry more, but at the same time, what would hanging around the guild do?

"Will you be taking an emergency lacrima to contact the guild if something goes wrong?" Mistere asked.

Kimi shook her head. "While I would like to, I think that if something was to happen regarding Jared..." Her voice trailed off as she spoke. She hadn't asked him about it, but she wondered if his magic was why he had left Lamia Scale... She had asked Winter about him after the incident because Winter had approached her and told her that she had a strong heart not to fear mages of darkness and chaos, and Winter had informed him that he had been transferred from Lamia Scale. Why else would Lamia Scale give up such a strong member to a small guild? That would also explain why he was stand-offish sometimes. Maybe he hurt someone before. "Nevermind~" she said, realizing that she had zoned out. "It's really something that I need to work out~" she said, waving her hands in a dismissive manner.

Hikari arched a brow, wondering what she had been thinking about. She wasn't going to pry, as Kimi's relationship with Jared was hers alone. As the mage skipped off, Hikari wondered if they had really helped her or if she was just faking for them.

* * *

**A few days later...**

Apart from Jared and Kimi, all of the strongest mages were in the guild. Nothing else had been heard from the Celeste family, at least for that moment. The guild hall was loud and Winter had placed a barrier over the request board so that no one could take missions. This resulted in confusion from all of the guild members, but Winter refused to answer any questions at that moment.

Everyone was talking and speculating what could be going on when Winter whistled loudly, making everyone quiet down. "Okay... We have a big mission, my children!" she called. When eyes of question were on her, she talked some more. "Is everyone familiar with the annual Nightshade Festival that is held in Nadeshiko, right?"

Everyone apart from Lillay and Cantrelle nodded. Lillay turned to Danny and Cantrelle turned to Adrian and Sharon.

"Oh... It's a really pretty festival with lots of shops, delicious food and games," Danny explained. "It's a week long festival with New Years in the middle of it. It's really cold, but it's amazing," he said.

"I haven't been to the Nightshade Festival in years!" Adrian cheered. He then turned to Cantrelle. "It's lots of fun. There's lots of pretty magic flowers, and there's the New Year's Festival and fireworks," he explained. He then turned to Sharon. "We should go together every night, Sharon-chan!"

Sharon smiled. "I think that'd be fun," she said. In the back of her head, she thought about the fact that a lot of the festivities at the festival were couple-oriented. He probably didn't remember that, though, since he hadn't been in town since he was young. Either way, there were shops exclusive to the festival and having friends was always better.

"We all have a mission that involves this wonderful festival... I need to see a group of people and then the rest of you need to form 4 groups... No more and no less," Winter said. "The people I need to see are Hikari, Mistere, Gabe, Ikaros and Ice," she finished.

While most of the mages began to scramble, the ones who had been called approached Winter, who was smiling warmly. "I want you all to be a team," she said.

Ice glared at her and Cross spoke for the antisocial mage. "Winter... You know that Ice and I do not like to work with people," the Exceed said.

"I know," Winter responded. This was the last time that she was going to try to make Ice be social. She wanted the mage to make friends, but it wasn't an easy task. The people that she had grouped her with were all mild-natured and wouldn't get on her nerves. "I want you to do this for me... This is possibly the last time that I will force you to work with people..."

Ice didn't respond and only continued to glare at the guild master.

"Hey... We won't bother you, since we know you don't like to be bothered," Hikari said. She wasn't the kindest person to those who she didn't know, but she did want to help Winter and trying to get the antisocial mage to be a bit more social.

"Why all of us, though?" Gabe asked. He didn't mean to come off as rude if he did. He was just a bit confused. Sure, Ikaros knew Kimi, but he rarely saw her talk to Kimi's friends so it wasn't like they would work all that well together.

"As I said, all of you are mild-natured and well mannered. You will not agitate Ice and I think you all will do just fine together," Winter explained.

"Fine," Ice said in a low, emotionless voice. She then shot looks to the other mages that she was with that let them know that she didn't really want to be messed with and wasn't happy about the arrangement.

"Wonderful... Now I just need this chaos to calm down," Winter said, looking at the crowd, who still seemed to be getting stuff sorted out.

Azura, Fame, Coyote and Monk had no problem working out that they would work together, but Monk looked around and his eyes landed on Nezuko. He had never really gotten the chance to work with her too much, and she seemed to be getting irritated with the crowd that she was with. So, he stood and walked over to her. "Hey, Nezuko. Wanna work with my team?"

Nezuko was surprised by Monk's offer and she looked up at him and then back to Leo and Gwen, who had already decided that they would be working together. She couldn't deal with Leo anymore. She hated him and the feeling was most likely mutual and only getting stronger the more time they spent together. "Fine," she answered, standing and walking away with Monk.

"Guys, Nezuko's gonna be working with us," Monk announced, sinking back down at their table, Nezuko sitting beside him.

The situation wasn't much better. Her annoyance with Leo had made her not think about who Monk worked with. Her eyes landed on Fame, who was already scowling at her, and then darted to Coyote, who always appeared to be scowling, and finally landed on Azura, who didn't seem as annoyed as the other two.

"Oh-kay," Fame said, rolling his eyes flipping his hair out of his face. "I guess I'm fine with that," he said. He didn't like Nezuko, though he had worked with her before. She always had this attitude about her that made her unbearable to him.

"I'm Azura!" Azura introduced herself. "Are you Monk's girl or somethin'?" she asked, her eyebrows twitching in amusement. She was completely over her drunken spell and after a day of a horrible hangover and Monk randomly making loud noises just to annoy her, she was better. Winter had left her off of watch and things had returned to normal.

Nezuko scowled at Azura. "Piss off! I'm just working with him to get away from my idiot of a cousin," she snarled.

Monk tossed his arm around Nezuko's shoulder. "Oh, c'mon. Don't act like I'm that offensive. You like me enough to invite me in your house!" Monk teased, laughing loudly, even as Nezuko punched him out of his chair.

Azura wondered what was actually going on between them, but figured that she would get two different responses from each person if she asked, so she didn't bother to question it.

Gwen and Leo had decided to work together, and Kai had decided that he and Leo hadn't worked together in a while, so he joined up with them. He had then called Marionette over from her table with another group and asked her to join.

"I told you that I needed a break from you," Marionette snapped, her eyes narrowing as she placed one hand on her hip.

"It's been about a week. That's enough," Kai said, grinning up at her from his seat. "We need to be able to do this mission the best that we can since it involves helping out such an awesome festival!"

Marionette stuck her nose up to him, but at the same time, she sat down, looking to the other two. She recognized Leo from the night that she had met Kai and she knew the other girl as Nezuko's cousin, Gwen.

"Hi..." Gwen spoke sheepishly. Marionette was one of Nezuko's team members, but she hadn't talked to her that much.

"Hello," Marionette said, bowing her head slightly. This would be interesting, she thought. Two seemingly air-headed men and a shy girl. It was a change of pace from her normal team.

Adrian and Sharon had decided to work together, and Adrian turned to the younger mages that set across the table from them. "Yuki-kun, Sara-chan, you should work with us!" he suggested, smiling brightly. He knew everyone now from being on medical duty and he had noticed that Sara and Yuki tended to stay together.

"Sure!" Sara responded. She and Adrian had spoke a bit while they cooked for the guild and tended to the last few injured mages after Adrian had obtained the anti-venom.

"Um... Can... Can you come with me to ask Winter if I can go?" Cantrelle asked, leaning against Adrian as she pleaded with him. She wanted to a part of a big mission and Winter had let her work with Adrian and Sharon some since the time they had helped her on the mission she had taken alone.

"Of course!" Adrian responded, grinning. "We'll go ask," he said, standing. He walked her over to Winter, who was now alone after the group who she was talking to parted from her. "Winter-sama... Can we take Cantrelle along?" he asked, placing a hand on Cantrelle's shoulder.

Winter stared down at Cantrelle and then looked back to the table where Adrian had been sitting. "Since you'll be going with a trustworthy team, yes," Winter said, smiling warmly. She trusted all of them and with four strong mages, she felt as though Cantrelle would be in good hands.

"YAY!" Cantrelle cheered, hugging Winter tightly and then turning to Adrian. "I'm so happy!" she said, beaming up at the older mage.

Adrian laughed lightly. "I'm happy for you," he said, heading back to the table.

Lillay, Danny and Emery decided to work together with mere glances, and Stark and Eira soon joined them.

"Alright!" Danny said once he looked around and noticed that five tables were occupied with groups of mages who seemed to be conversing and cutting up. "I think we managed to get it done. He wondered if the fifth team had been formed by Winter's request for some reason, but decided not to question it.

"I wonder what we're going to have to do," Lillay asked.

"I'm sure Winter will tell us in a minute," Emery responded, her eyes on the guild master, who seemed to be looking around.

"This must be uncomfortable for Ice, if Winter is making her work with people," Stark commented. He didn't like working with others, either, but that was just because he liked to do missions his way. Ice had looked like she was in pain when they had searched for the Exceeds, so they were different.

"She needs to learn to get over it!" Terra said, sticking her nose up in the air and closing her eyes. "She and her Exceed have a bad attitude!"

"Some people just don't like people," Izzy said, defending Ice.

"Then don't join a guild!" Terra retorted.

"Okay. I see five teams! I'm happy!" Winter called. "Now... To tell you what happened. Some people who are going to be helping with the Nightshade Festival have come across some problems... The first two that I will address are the cases of two stolen caravans full of supplies for the festival. Stark's team and Azura's team will be dealing with these, problems," she said. Her eyes landed on Azura's table first. "I want you all to head down to the harbors. There is a group of bandits that live in the sewers there and they supposedly have the caravan of a client who came in from the harbor."

"Sewer crawling...?" Azura asked in a low voice. That was kind of nasty.

"Ew," Fame mumbled. However, he didn't mind going to the harbor. Maybe he could sneak off and visit his family or something.

Nezuko was fine with it. She had spent nearly a year of her life around sewers and alleyways when she ran away from home, and the sewers were home to many rats, so it wouldn't be hard for her to track the bandits.

Coyote was a bit annoyed, but if nothing else, maybe he could gather a rat soul or something, though he didn't know what that would help.

Monk had noticed that Nezuko wasn't disturbed and thought that she must have really been a rat girl.

Winter's eyes darted to Stark's table. "You guys may want to dress lightly, as you will traveling through a desert to get to the guild known as Leprechaun Palace, which is a treasure hunter guild. The client thinks that since he accidentally left a caravan behind in the desert that the guild is close to that it's a possibility that the guild has their caravan, since it was full of rare jewelry. The town is called Primrose."

"Hot..." Lillay whined, her eyes dropping as fake tears streamed from her face.

"Why did they leave their caravan in the desert?" Danny asked. "And I'll stitch you some ice infused clothing or something that will keep you cool," he told Lillay, smiling.

"It lost a wheel and he needed to get the other caravans to a hotel before he could go back and get it," Winter answered.

"Alright," Stark said. He didn't mind desert traveling.

Emery was fairly okay with it. She wasn't one to complain about missions.

Eira was silent, thinking that if Stark was okay with it, she could be, too.

"Next, I want Leo's team to head to the frozen village known as Snapdragon. There is a lady there who would like to participate in the festival, but she needs some kind mages to help her across the icy tundras that are a result of being overlooked by a mountain," Winter explained.

Leo could deal with that. He didn't hate cold weather; he would just have to dress a bit heavier.

Marionette was good with cold weather, so she shrugged, uncaring.

"Sounds coo-" Before Kai could finish his pun, he was bonked on the head by Marionette's fist. He rubbed his head, chuckling under his breath.

Gwen noticed that her teammates seemed to be okay with it so she faked a smile. She hated cold weather. Her hometown was a beach town and it rarely ever froze there. She liked the small snow that Nadeshiko got, but a tundra? She was going to suffer. She wouldn't hold her team back, though. She had winter clothing; she would utilize them.

"Finally, there is a client who will be handmaking jewelry and garments at the festival, and she needs some materials... This will take two teams," Winter said, her eyes darting from Adrian's team to Hikari's team. "First, I want Hikari's team to travel to Snowbell Mountain, the same mountain that shades Snapdragon Village. There is a town in the mountains called Snowbell Town, and you may stay there. You will be searching for jewels that are around the mountain. I think this is appropriate for your team because most of you will have some way to break rocks and mine for them if needed."

"Sounds fine to me," Hikari said. She and Mistere had trained on Snowbell Mountain, though they had stayed at a different town that was probably further into the mountains.

Mistere nodded in agreement with Hikari. She could pick up rocks and throw them to the ground with her wisps or bash them with her staff.

Ice didn't care where they had to go; she just wanted to get the mission over with.

"Sounds like fun~" Ikaros commented, which made Gabe smile.

Winter's eyes landed on Adrian's team again. "First off, how many of you can swim?" she asked.

Everyone apart from Cantrelle raised their hands.

"Good. Someone can teach Cantrelle to swim," she said. She then continued. "You will be traveling to Sunflower Village to collect seashells that are around the beach and on the ocean floor, close to shore," she explained. "I think this will be something that Cantrelle will enjoy."

"Okay!" Adrian said. He then turned to Cantrelle. "I can help teach you to swim!" he offered, smiling.

"Me, too!" Sharon cheered. Sunflower Village was another prestigious village on the shore, and she would be able to shop and enjoy the beach.

"Sounds awesome!" Yuki said. He couldn't use his magic in water and he didn't necessarily enjoy water as much as some people, but the beaches were warm, right?

Sara was happy. She liked beaches and searching for seashells sounded like fun to her. "I can't wait..."

"It really feels like we got ripped off," Azura commented to her table, glaring.

"I'm perfectly fine with staying as far away from Sunflower as possible," Nezuko hissed, her eyes darkening.

"Can you not swim?" Monk asked.

"No... Wait, I can swim. I despise that town and the awful people in it," Nezuko growled, her hands balled into such tight fists that her knuckles were white.

"Sounds like someone's running from the past," Fame commented, flipping his hair. He agreed that they were getting ripped off, but all arguing would get them would be silly costumes.

"Burn in hell," Nezuko snarled at Fame.

Gwen's eyes dropped when she heard the name of the village at a different team would be traveling to. She had tried to keep in contact with her father, but she hadn't visited in months because she always ended up seeing her mother. "It's so weird seeing them together..." she thought aloud, tears filling her eyes.

"What?" Leo asked, his eyes widening when he heard her sniffle. "Hey..." he spoke softly, wrapping an arm around her. "What's wrong...?"

Gwen realized that she had spoken aloud and she shook her head. "I... I'll tell you later..." she mumbled. "I... Wouldn't want Nezuko-chan to hear... It makes her angry to be reminded," she said. As she spoke, she looked over her shoulder. She could see that Nezuko looked tense, and the man with sunglasses that was always around had a hand on her shoulder. Too late...

"It's settled. I have arranged for you all to have nice rooms at hotels in the towns that I have told you about, so enjoy your trips... Please try to finish the missions within three weeks, as the festival is in a month and they will need a week to prepare," Winter explained.

With that, the groups agreed on meeting places and times and began to scurry off to get ready for their missions.

* * *

**Author's Note: **That's the chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! Leave a review if you want~

**SOME NOTES THAT WILL ADDRESS QUESTIONS THAT MAY ARISE: **

-First off... Nicky Azure came up with the idea of Azura's family coming to get her.

-Secondly... I know some of you are probably wanting a full on beach chapter or two, and that will happen after the GMGs.

-Thirdly, I know that people have been suggesting parties, and that may come up after Azura being drunk... There will be parties and stuff eventually. :)

-Fourthly... The inspiration for this festival did NOT come from Fantasia in the real anime. Silver Griffin does not do a parade. The inspiration for this came from a drawing of Lucy wearing a kimono that Hiro Mashima posted on his Twitter. It also came from the fact that I adore when animes do New Years festivals because they're always so sweet, so I wanted to do it.

-Lastly... On the note of parties and funny drunken moments... I personally do not drink. I have and it's nasty to me and I hate feeling sloppy from it. So if the amount of alcohol consumed wouldn't actually get someone drunk or if they drink enough to get them drunker than they are, I'm sorry. I have no idea about that kind of thing. X_X

**Review Responses**

Thank you all for reviewing as always~ Lots of love from me!

**La Maitresse' Dame - **When the results said that they would both win, I wondered about changing it, but then decided to roll with it. Winter is supposed to be too light on them like that. Dunno if she will change. I'm happy that you enjoyed some of the scenes in the battle. It's gonna be semi-filler, yes... Kinda like the "Key to the Starry Sky" arc in the anime where it reveals more about Lucy but there's still a central plot to the arc. This arc is to buy me time to plan out the GMGs. There will be one more filler arc before the final arc that will simply be extending the fic so that I won't have to say that it's over. XD

**Gureifox - **I think everyone can understand where Crystal is coming from to an extent. And yes, they still have the GMGs. :)

**LilTimy -** I'm happy that you enjoyed the arc. Hopefully you'll enjoy this one as well!

**FairyTailWolf6 - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the fight so much~ And I agree. :)

**Hiragami Kotone - **I'm really happy that you enjoyed the chapter~ It is a lot of S-class mages. X_X It will be fine, though~ Hehe. Marionette has high standards.

**shadowssj12 - **I hope you enjoy this arc~

**Rin Ice Miyako **- I'm glad she wasn't too OOC. And for this arc, I made her work with people again... It's easier that way and Winter is tormenting her right now. :P

**Nicky Azure - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the arc. Hopefully this one will be enjoyable, even if it is kinda a filler-arc. XD


	29. Chapter 28

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ I hope you enjoy the chapter. There are five teams and there will be 1-2 chapters focusing on each team. So... Yay. After the missions, there will be a chapter or two focusing on the Nightshade festival, and possibly a special or two. :)

**Next chapter will be late because I'm going to hang with my cousin again. :) And that's why this chapter is posted at a completely different time. I didn't know if I'd be able to get around to posting it before I left, so I decided to post it before going to bed. :)**

* * *

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

"Wh-what's wrong with them?" Ikaros asked. She, Mistere, Hikari, Gabe, Ice and Cross had boarded the train to Snowbell, but now that the train had started moving, Hikari let out a loud groan before letting her head fall into Mistere's lap. Ice was affected as well, though she wasn't showing it as much as Hikari. She claimed an aisle seat and had her headphones over her ears, music blaring from them. Her face still had a blue tint to it and her eyes were darker than usual.

"Motion sickness," Mistere responded. "That's a dragon slayers main weakness," she added.

"...Headphones may help..." Hikari mumbled, her speech slurring as her mouth watered. She had noticed what Ice was doing and she had never tried that. It would probably take her mind off of the excruciating sickness that bubbled in her stomach. Besides, she loved music and that alone would bring her comfort.

"Try it next time?" Mistere suggested. She had been worried about Hikari the first time that they had worked together, but now she was used to her falling into this state when they were on transportation.

"Do you think it's gonna be fun in the mountains?" Ikaros asked, trying to change the subject, since she couldn't think of anything that they could do to help them. They would be climbing the mountains after they got off the train and would most likely make it to the town by the middle of the night, giving them enough time to sleep and then get some daylight hours to mind.

"We trained in the mountains for the S-class exams and it was quite fun," Mistere responded, smiling. She didn't know Ikaros and the girl seemed to be a bit quiet, apart from questions, but she had a cheerful air to her and it was nice.

Ikaros smiled at that. She then turned to Gabe. "Oh, how did your training for the S-class exams go? We never really talked about it." She knew that Gabe and his partner had lost to Ice and she had wondered how that made Gabe feel, since he had to work with her now, but she thought that Gabe's carefree personality would make it easy for him to deal with it.

"Pretty good," Gabe responded. He and Fame got along, for the most part. Fame's arrogance was annoying, but they had managed to pull off a lot of good combinations when they worked together. Now he realized that he was thrown into another situation where he would have to try to get along with people. He was comfortable around Ikaros, but he was on an all girls team. Did Winter book him a room alone, at least?

After that, the mages continued to chat about their mission and other things; the trainride would take over a day, so they had to do something to amuse themselves.

* * *

"I kinda expected the mountains to be colder, especially with a name like Snowbell," Gabe said as he removed his jacket and put it in his backpack. They had gotten off the train and the two dragon slayers that were with them had gotten over their sickness. Now, the five mages and one Exceed were walking through sunset bathed mountain trails.

"It gets colder if we go up really far," Hikari responded. She was in a cheerful mood, walking a few steps ahead of the group with her arms tucked behind her head. She loved the mountains and she was so happy that Winter had given them such a fitting assignment.

Ice had to admit that the mountains had a really peaceful air to them. She had also realized that the group that she was with was fairly quiet apart from talking about the mission, which made it more bearable. They hadn't said anything to her about getting motion sick, which suited her fine and they hadn't said anything about the fact that she was walking behind all of them, keeping her distance.

_"Are you okay?" _Cross asked. She hadn't seen any looks of pain from Ice and the mage hadn't snapped on any of her group members. She had to wonder if her partner was just keeping everything bottled up.

_"Yes," _Ice responded flatly.

They continued to walk until Hikari stopped. She had seen a flash of what looked to be a dark colored animal across the path. Her brows furrowed together and she dropped her arms to her side, pondering what it could have been.

"What's wrong?" Mistere asked, stopping beside her. None of the other mages had seen the flash because they were lower down on a fairly steep path.

Hikari sniffed the air; there was another dragon slayer around. Or, at least the scent of one. "We may have company in a minute..." she said, dirt starting to swirl around her.

Ice smelled it, too, and she already had her scythe in her hands. "Dragon slayer..." she hissed under her breath.

Gabe stepped in front of Ikaros, as if to defend her, though she gave him a confused look and stepped out from behind him.

"Heh! They think that I'm Sting-kun," a small voice sounded from behind a rock.

All of the griffins flinched and Mistere raised one hand towards the rock, causing a dark pink and light pink Exceed wearing a blue vest to be lifted from behind them and dropped in front of the group.

The Exceed's eyes widened as he stared up at five pairs of narrowed eyes. "Yo-You guys won't stand a chance against Sting-kun if you try to fight me! He's the best mage in the world!" the Exceed stammered, pointed a light pink finger at the mages. He tried to back up as he spoke, but Mistere help him with the wisps.

"Sting...?" Hikari questioned. TV lacrima shows of the Grand Magic Games flashed through her head and then it hit her. "You're Lector! Where is Sting?" she asked kneeling in front of the Exceed, who had been released from Mistere's magic now. She was curious as to what Saber Tooth was doing in the mountains.

Everyone apart from Ice dropped their guard. Since Minerva and her father left, Saber Tooth was an ally of Fairy Tail and a good guild. Silver Griffin was, too, so there was no reason to fight. Ice, however, wasn't going to show trust so easily.

"H-he's around!" Lector responded, his eyes narrowing. He then began to shake after speaking, his eyes shifting as he attempted to search for a way to get away from the griffins.

"Are you lost?" Cross asked in a mocking tone, seeing through the Exceed's facade.

"Yes!" Lector said, tears now streaming down his face. "I... I fell... Sting-kun and Rogue are on a mission for some festival or somethin' and their looking for gems..." he explained.

"Heh?" Ikaros stepped forward. "Would the festival be the Nightshade festival?" she asked. It would just be too coincidental for them to be doing the same thing without being on the same mission.

"I think..." Lector responded, wiping his eyes and attempting to glare at the mages so that he would look stronger. However, he started to sob again after a moment.

Everyone's eyes widened at that. "Why would be on the same mission?" Hikari asked, her eye twitching in annoyance. There was only one reason that she could think of. The mission was sent to multiple guilds. Why not just ask Silver Griffin? It was their town's festival. Unless...

"Could they have doubted our abilities as mages?" Mistere asked, her eyes dropping to the ground. How offensive.

"Tch," Ice snorted. She was annoyed. What was the point of doing this stupid mission if a bigger guild was going to be working on it? Would they quit or what?

"Well, it's a chance to get our name out there," Gabe said. "If we make an impression on someone as big as Saber Tooth, then it would be good for Silver Griffin, right?"

"Your guild would never be better than Saber Tooth! We have the strongest mages around!" Lector boasted.

"I'll show you strong mages you arrogant cat!" Hikari snapped, stepping forward. However, she found that Mistere's wisps were hold her back when she went to move forward again.

"Don't bully the Exceed, Hikari," Mistere spoke calmly. "Lector... Would you like us to help you find Sting?" she asked.

"Fine," Lector said, shrugging.

"Alright, let's continue our mission, then," the blunette continued to speak.

Lector flew above the mages, flying somewhat close to Cross, though it wasn't intentional. However, he was curious about the other Exceed. "I've never seen an Exceed with black wings," he said, staring at Cross' wings.

Cross glanced at him. "It's not something you should concern yourself with," she responded, having no interest in socializing with him. Even if it would be good to leave an impression on a bigger guild, she wasn't going to be the one to do it.

"What kind of mages are you all?" Lector asked after shooting Cross as mean glare. "Not that you would ever be-"

"Compare us to your friend one more time, you annoying Exceed," Hikari growled at Lector. She then tossed her hair over her shoulder. She was pretty sure that she alone could take Sting, so he would be obliterated if he had to fight all five mages at once like that. She was starting to find herself hating Lector more and more by the minute. She had a feeling that she would feel the same way about Sting, too. "Anyway... I'm Hikari... I'm an earth dragon slayer, though I also know a bit of earth god slaying and sound magic," she explained.

"Where's your Exceed?" Lector asked, noting that Cross seemed to stay close to a different girl, meaning that she probably wasn't Hikari's Exceed.

"I don't have one!" Hikari snapped. She hated that question. She remembered seeing all of the Gajeel figures with a place for the Exceed on sell when she was really young and now that she was older, she wondered if the same thing would happen to her if she became more well-known. She hated thinking about it.

"I'm Mistere, a wisp mage," Mistere spoke quickly to draw the conversation back in, not wanting Lector and Hikari to get into an argument.

"I'm Ikaros and I use change magic," Ikaros explained.

"I'm Gabe and I'm a copycat mage," Gabe introduced himself.

Ice remained silent, not thinking that she had any reason to have to talk to the Exceed. She had the same opinion as Cross; while it would be good to get their name out there, she wasn't going to be the one doing it.

"Ice doesn't speak much," Gabe explained. "Erm... She's the magic dragon slayer," he added, flinching when Ice shot him an annoyed glance.

"I'm Cross," Cross spoke flatly, sticking her nose up to Lector.

"Are other guilds going to be going to the Nightshade Festival this year?" Mistere asked Lector.

"I dunno. It's like a giant party, so Sting-kun may be interested," Lector said, recalling what the client had told them when they had met with her. He then imagined how Rogue would respond though, if Sting even suggested it. This made a sweat-drop appear on the Exceed's head as he sighed heavily. They may go, but Rogue would probably just want to go on a mission or do something that didn't involve partying and lots of noise.

The griffins were confused about Lector's sudden sigh, but they didn't question it.

* * *

They made their way up the mountain path, cheering as they passed a sign that read, "Snowbell Town".

"This is where Sting-Kun and Rogue are supposed to be staying." Lector pointed as they continued to travel into the town.

It was a town, nestled in between the path that they were on, another path that led up the mountain, and two caverns that had signs disclosing proper mining equipment and safety. There were a lot of small houses with really pointed roofs in case it did snow a lot. As the walked, they past a total of two general shops and one small cafe. Apart from the occasional light in a window, most of the houses were dark as the village slept. They passed a really small inn known as "Mountain Acres Inn" and the group stopped walking.

"We're supposed to be staying at the Belle Inn," Gabe said, pulling out a piece of paper that Winter had given him. She had given each group a paper with the name of the hotel that they were booked at, as to not cause any confusion. The run down hotel that they were in front of was thankfully not the one that they were staying in, so they continued to walk.

"I think my team is, too," Lector said.

They located the hotel, which was close to the upward sloping mountain path, but before they could get near it, a bright white beam came from the path.

The griffins scattered, all managing to dodge the light magic.

"Lector!" A man with spiky blond hair came running down the path, anger flashing in his blue eyes. He practically tackled the red Exceed, holding him tightly.

"Sting-kun!" Lector cried, clinging to the man's olive colored half shirt.

"Did these guys hurt you?" Sting asked, his eyes darting to each of the mages as he examined them, noting that they all seemed to have the same guild mark. It was a guild mark that he didn't recognize, which made him coat his free hand with light and scowl. "What guild are you guys from?" he asked. His eyes shot to a black haired male who was dressed in much warmer clothing than him who had just caught up to him, but he turned his attention back to the mages. They could be a dark guild, for all he knew, even though they didn't really put off the air of a dark guild.

"Silver Griffin," Hikari answered. "We're not a dark guild," she added. She didn't want to fight another legal guild. That would be bad publicity for their guild.

Sting sniffed the air. "Dragon slayers?" he asked, his eyes landing on Hikari and then Ice. "You'd think that a guild would be known if they had dragon slayers. Just how weak are you?" the white dragon slayer said, laughing mockingly at them.

Hikari scowled at him. "Go to hell! I'm pretty sure you wouldn't lay a finger on Ice and me if you tried!" she snapped, earth swirling around her fists as her anger boiled over. Just as she suspected, she hated him.

"Really? Is that a challenge?" Sting asked, letting Lector go to join Frosch. "Oi, Rogue, let's show these little girls what we're made of."

"...Not interested," Rogue said, closing his eyes and sighing. What was the point of challenging another guild who had done nothing wrong to them? Just for a fight? They were in the middle of a town.

"Ice... I know you don't like people, but c'mon. Let's leave our marks on these guys!" Hikari called.

Mistere, Gabe and Ikaros stepped away, not wanting to get in the middle of a fight between four dragon slayers.

"...Don't care," Ice said, making sure not to use the same wording as Rogue, even though she felt the same way as him. She was always up for a battle, but not with a teammate. She would prefer to take down the tigers alone.

"C'mon!" Sting and Hikari said together, their eyes on their respective guild mates.

"Maybe it's best that we don't fight in the middle of town," Gabe said. It was night and there was no doubt that if the four dragon slayers fought, they would be waking people up and disturbing the peace. He also wasn't sure if this was the right way to go about getting their names out to the guild.

"Fro thinks so, too~" Frosch said, raising one pink hand to agree with Gabe.

"Hey! Don't agree with him! I wanna see Sting-kun fight!" Lector snapped at the costumed Exceed. He then turned to Rogue. "You should join Sting-kun!"

Rogue sighed and walked forward, standing beside Sting with no emotion in his red eyes. He still wasn't interested in this, but he knew that they would stand here all night if he didn't do anything.

"Alright! Ice, please...? They called our guild weak," Hikari pleaded.

Ice's eye twitched as she stepped forward, sighing as well. While she didn't have any real interest in fighting alongside someone, she didn't mind fighting. Besides, she didn't feel as though Silver Griffin needed to be called weak.

The twin dragons shot forward with white and shadow fists, Sting aiming for Hikari while Rogue aimed for Ice.

Ice jumped back to dodge Rogue and summoned her scythe just in time for the shadow dragon slayer's fist to collide with her stomach. Instead of letting herself be knocked back, she swung her scythe, hooking it around Rogue to scoop him up and throw him into the air. She then dashed into the air and slammed a magic-coated fist into his face. She practically vanished in the air and was over Rogue in a flash, crashing a magic covered leg over his back and sending him to the ground. She was surprised that he had gotten a hit on her so easily and it made her mind snap into battle mode.

Hikari speedily dodged Sting's punches and kicks, grinning at how fast he was. The lacrima vision of the games didn't do him any justice. Still, she could be better than him. She grabbed one of his arms when he swung a fist at her, her magic swirling around him, and then boosted up to kick him in the face with dirt covered feet, making him stumble back. She then leaped forward, crying "Earth Dragon's Drills!" as she threw both of her drill fists forward and caused him to fly backwards.

Rogue rolled out of the way of Ice's scythe and turned into shadows, dancing around Ice, shadows assaulting her from every direction. She was definitely stronger than what he had expected, since he was under the same impression that Sting was about the guild having to be weak since they had dragon slayers but were not well known.

Ice's eyes darted around and she coated her scythe with magic, spinning it and slashing at the shadows that surrounded her.

Rogue appeared behind Ice and punched her in the back of the head, causing her to stumble forward. He then went to kick her, only to have her spin around and counter by kicking him in the side as hard as she could.

Sting dodged Hikari as she went to attack again with her drill fists. He brought his hands together and then held them back to his side with his palms opened to Hikari as he gathered light in his hands. "Holy Ray!" he called, a triumphant smirk on his face as Hikari failed to dodge it.

Hikari grimaced as the light magic seemed to slice through her and throw her back. She managed to flip in the air at the last second and then land on her hands. She flipped over and her stomach began to swell. "Earth Dragon's Roar!" she bellowed as she shot out a flurry of dirt towards Sting. She was partially doing this just to see him roar.

"Heh," Sting's stomach swelled as he scoffed. His cheeks began to bloat as well as he called out "White Dragon's Roar!", firing a bright laser from his mouth

At the same time, Rogue and Ice had stared each other down before their cheeks began to swell and they shot out their own shadowy and pure roars.

All four roars collided in the middle of the dragon slayers, swelling until each roar merged into a huge mass of light, earth, shadow, and magic that screeched and destroyed the earth around them, sending chunks of rock at the mages and Exceeds that were watching.

Ikaros quickly made herself a giant shield and shielded herself, Mistere and Gabe, while the Exceeds used Aera to summon their wings to fly above the mass. The blast was glorious but deadly. All three of the mages and the Exceeds could feel the magic radiating from it and their eyes darted around, glad to see that the buildings around them were somehow holding up, though a few of them had lost windows.

The mass of magic finally deteriorated, scarring the earth. The four dragon slayers glared at each other, but their fight was interrupted by a middle aged woman who was dressed in a black dress that was accented with many expensive gems. She had four magic brooms floating around her as she came from the hotel that they were supposed to be staying at.

She walked over so that she was in the middle of the four mages. The brooms hovered over their heads and began to beat them in the heads.

"Ack!" Hikari covered her hair with her hands. It didn't hurt, but it was annoying. What kind of mage used broom magic, if this was what this was?!

"The hell? What gives?!" Sting growled. His fangs were showing and his eyes had turned to slits, but as he began to calm down from the battle, since being beat in the head with a broom just wasn't part of an epic battle, he returned to normal.

Rogue and Ice didn't talk, but they both ducked their heads slightly and their eyes got dark with irritation.

"No! Bad mages! This is why we don't have a guild in this town! You're all so troublesome!" the woman nagged at them. "I'm gonna make your guild masters pay even more money than what I told them! A stupid rock flew threw the window and bonked me in the head! Apologize! All of you!" With that, she dropped her broom magic and placed her hands on her hips.

"Don't treat Sting-kun like a dog, you old lady!" Lector snapped, flying closer to the woman, his paws balled into fists.

"Rogue either!" Frosch chimed in, though the Exceed didn't approach the woman as Lector did.

Cross only sighed. She had to say that it was Ice's fault for getting involved in a battle in the middle of town. However, she did glare at the woman after thinking for a moment. Her partner did not deserve to get treated that way.

"Shut up!" the woman barked at the Exceeds, summoning three brooms to smack them in the head with.

Lector scowled at the broom and flew away only to have it chase him. "How annoying!" he said under his breath.

"Fro thinks so, too..." the small green Exceed said with teary eyes. Pink paws rubbed the area in between the eyes of the frog costume.

Cross shot daggers at the woman with her eyes.

"Hey, lady, don't touch Lector!" Sting growled. "We'll fix the damage or whatever!" He didn't like people messing with Lector. This trait had become even more prominent when he thought he had lost the Exceed in the games before last.

"Seriously, you made one of them cry!" Hikari snapped, her eyes on Frosch. She felt so sorry for the cute little Exceed.

Rogue walked over and scooped Frosch in his arms and hugged him, smiling warmly at him and walking back over to the woman. "We're sorry," he said in a flat voice, his face reflecting just as much emotion.

"Yeah, whatever," Ice mumbled, walking over to Cross and punching the broom with a magic-coated fist to disspell it.

The woman glared at everyone. "Whatever," she said. Her eyes then landed on Gabe. "I have note that you are supposed to be staying with the Saber men," she said. "Your keys are on the desk," she added before storming off.

"Winter knew that we would be working with other guilds?" Mistere asked, her eyes widening.

"Maybe it was all a set up to get our name out there!" Hikari said, smiling. She then turned to Sting. "We so won that, by the way!" she said in a triumphant voice.

"Like hell! No one beats Saber Tooth!" Sting retorted. "Especially a nameless guild like...What was it?" he mocked.

"Silver Griffin! And you best not forget it!" Hikari responded as their foreheads slammed together and they snarled at each other.

"Saber Tooth is stronger!" Lector cheered.

"Fro thinks so, too~" Frosch agreed, smiling up at Rogue, who returned the smile.

"Why don't we settle this cleanly?" Gabe suggested, stepping forward. He didn't think that the four dragon slayers battling would ever get anywhere other than the town getting destroyed.

"What do you mean?" Sting and Hikari asked together, looking over at the copycat mage, pulling away from each other.

"Well... Our mission is to collect gems, right?" Gabe started. When he got nods from the other mages, he spoke again. "How about we see who can collect the most gems? We'll split into groups of two with one group of three or something."

"Tch," Sting smirked. "Why don't we just do griffins versus tigers?" he suggested. "I'm pretty sure Rogue and I can collect more gems than all of you put together!"

"Are you sure about that?" Gabe asked. He didn't mean to come off as arrogant. He really thought it would be better if it they did things as fairly as possible.

"Of course!" Sting said, a smug look on his face. He didn't doubt that they would win this. There was no way that they would get beat by a nobody-guild.

"Whatever," Gabe said, shrugging it off.

* * *

The hotel wasn't bad. It had a nice lounge area on the first floor with a large table surrounded by really soft pillows that people could sit on. There was a large TV lacrima over the table. There was a doorway on either side of the desk; one with a pink curtain over it and one with a blue curtain over it. Each of them had the standard symbol of a hotsprings on them. There also a door behind the desk but no one was certain as to what it led to, though it was safe to assume that it was probably a kitchen or an office.

The mages retrieved their keys and the females split from the males.

The bedrooms weren't bad, either. There were four small beds, one in each corner of the room, and a door that led to a personal bathroom with two sinks and a walk-in shower. In the bathroom there was also a shelf with lots of towels and some toiletries. In the main room, there was a table with four pillows surrounding it in the middle of the floor.

The girls walked into their room and tossed their backpacks on the bed that they claimed. Hikari flopped down on the bed and sighed. "That was kinda fun, right, Ice?" she asked, looking over to the quiet mage, who had also sat down and was polishing her scythe, which had been stained with Rogue's blood. She didn't like Sting's arrogance, but fighting him was a lot of fun.

"I think it looked like fun~" Ikaros said, sitting on her own bed. She stared at the table and then looked around until she noticed a phone on the wall. "We should order food!" she suggested. She was hungry. They had been traveled and they hadn't eaten since they were on the train. She knew that the dragon slayers had to be starving since they hadn't eaten on the train ride.

Ice didn't respond to Hikari, but her stomach decided that it would respond to Ikaros by growling loudly, which made her eyes darken in embarrassment.

"Awesome suggestion," Hikari said, sitting up and grabbing her stomach when it began to growl and then cramp from hunger. Not eating in nearly two days and then fighting had taken a toll on her.

With that, Ikaros got up and ordered a bunch of food since everything on the menu sounded really yummy to her.

Once the meal arrived, all four of the girls and Cross chowed down on the large meal. There was enough food to fill the table, but it was gone within a matter of minutes. Afterwords, the girls stared at the messy table with blank expressions.

"That... It's gone," Mistere pointed out. She was full, yes, but she hadn't even realized how fast they were eating.

"We should go to the hotsprings," Hikari suggested, falling back on the floor and stretching. She was tired, but a nice bath would top everything off and make this day awesome in her opinion. She couldn't wait until the next day to prove to Sting that they were better. How did he think he was going to beat an earth dragon slayer at mining? Besides, Ikaros also had change magic, and she could probably use that to her advantage, and Gabe could just copy her magic or Stark's magic to help him.

"Yeah!" Ikaros cheered happily. She was enjoying the mission so far... All of her teammates seemed nice to her, even though Ice was mostly just quiet. They had also gotten to meet two big-shot mages. She didn't look up to either of them, but she looked forward to winning against them in hopes that they would spread their name some. Their name being bigger would mean a better request board, which meant more opportunities for fun missions.

Mistere, Hikari and Ikaros stood and cleaned off the table before turning to Ice, who had moved to the bed. "Are you comin', Ice?" Hikari asked, turning around at the door.

Ice shot them a glance that portrayed that she was not interested and the girls left the room.

"Are you still doing okay?" Cross asked as Ice began to prepare to shower, glad to have the room to herself for now.

Ice nodded. "...Want to beat the tigers tomorrow..." she said. Normally, she wasn't interested in these kinds of competitions, but Rogue had stood up to her with no problem, which irked her. She wanted to show them not to mess with a griffin and she would do so, even though she had no intentions of actually working with her team. She could do her portion alone.

Cross' ear twitched in curiosity. Ice was actually doing something that could be considered social? That was something different. She wasn't sure what to make of it, since she really didn't associating with others too much. She would help Ice, though, nonetheless.

* * *

Once the guys were in their room, they ate hurriedly as well and then Rogue called the shower, leaving Sting and Gabe in the room alone.

Sting got up from the floor and plopped back on the bed that he had called, pulling off his shirt, vest and gloves. He had bruises and cuts all over his chest from Hikari, and his face was swollen in certain spots, namely his chin and lip where Hikari's heel had hit.

"I can copy healing magic to heal that," Gabe offered. Sting didn't seem to be acting like he was in pain, but the wounds look painful to him.

"Heh, I don't need it," Sting responded. He kicked his boots off and then sat up. "What's your guild like, exactly?" he asked. He was just curious to know. He wondered if it was a guild like Fairy Tail or the new Saber Tooth, where family and strength in bonds were important.

"Hmm..." Gabe hummed, trying to figure out what he meant. "Well... We're a small guild, even though we've been around for fifty years... The guild master is really, really nice. Our guild is located in the town of the festival that we're helping on this mission," he said, trying to think of how to describe Silver Griffin. "We have lots of really strong mages, too!" he added.

Sting snorted like he didn't believe the last part of Gabe's sentence. "Why haven't you participated in the games if you're full of strong mages? Obviously that chick with you, Hikari was it, thinks you guys are the best," he questioned. He had learned everyone's names at the counter when they were getting their keys.

"Our guild master doesn't want us to," Gabe responded, frowning. "She's scared that we'll get hurt in them."

Sting laughed at that. "What are you, a bunch of kids? None of you like much younger than the participants of the games," he pointed out, a grin on his face.

Gabe found himself laughing a bit as well. "Winter sees us that way," he admitted. "I think we've almost talked her into letting us participate this year... A lot of the mages have been asking," he said. He was one of those mages, though he didn't know if he had interest in actually being on the team. He knew the power of the mages in his guild, though and he had faith that they could do good in them.

"I'll look forward to seeing you guys, if you can actually make it," Sting said. "Don't think you're going to be able to beat Saber Tooth in them, though," he added, flashing a grin at Gabe.

"Yeah! Saber Tooth is the best!" Lector chimed in finally, having been sitting on the bed beside Sting and listening in on their conversation.

"Fro thinks so, too~" Frosche called from across the room. The Exceed had been sitting on the bed that Rogue had claimed.

Gabe shrugged. "I... I dunno about that," he admitted, smirking. He wasn't the arrogant type, usually, but he kept finding himself in situations where he was around arrogant people, so he had to act like it sometimes. "We'll be giving it our all if we can actually talk Winter into letting us participate."

"You're on, then!" Sting said, his eyes narrowing. "Saber Tooth will be rivals with Fairy Tail and Silver Griffin this year, then! We'll beat both of you and become number one in Fiore again!"

"Alright!" Gabe said, grinning. He actually wasn't so sure about this. They were a small guild. Forming a rivalry with a big guild might now may not work out so well. It would probably give them even less of a chance of even getting into the games because they would be targeted. Oh, well. It was going to happen soon enough, anyway, especially if they ended up beating them at collecting gems.

* * *

**Author's Note: **So, this chapter is short, but if I include the final part to the mission, it will be too long. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it, nonetheless! Leave a review if you want. It will take me a couple of chapters to get comfortable with the canon characters, just as it did with the OCs, so please don't be too harsh on me with it! D: I've absolutely never written material with Sting or Rogue... X_X Anyway, the idea of Lector getting lost was Hiragami Kotone's idea. :) And regarding the battle, it's supposed to be short! I'm saving all the really long canon versus OC battles for the GMGs. Besides, the battle was interrupted by broom lady.

**Review Responses**

Thank you all for reviewing! Lots of loves from me as always!

**Lazyboredom - **I'm happy that you enjoy the story so much~ I hope I continue to stay dedicated to it, even with college and stuff. :U And yes, he is off again! :)

**La Maitresse' Dame - **I do lots of planning for the story. I have a really long document of notes that I add stuff to anytime anything at all pops in my head... It's no well organized, though. ; n ; I'm sorry it seemed rushed. I noticed it when I was proofreading and actually added a good bit too it, too. X_X That happens sometimes, when I get to writing because things flash through my head, and I forget that I need to be a lot more detailed and thorough, since people aren't inside my head when reading this. X_X I get bad feedback on rushing things in my college papers, too. O.O Ack, was that OOC for her? I thought it seemed right, since the only one that she has previously worked with is Kai. I was actually already planning that for that team, though. :)

**Junior the Otaku - **I'm really happy that you liked the chapter, and with big battles, I like to make it so that the winner won't be obvious, sort of like Hiro Mashima does with a lot of the detailed battles in the manga. :) I'm happy that you enjoyed ch.26, too. :) I like people with Coyotes's personality, but they're out of my comfort zone. The farthest away from my comfort zone will be revealed next chapter when I fail so hard with some more canon characters. X_X

**LinkinParktheKillersFan - **I'm sorry you got so far behind! X_X I'm glad you enjoyed the chapters, though. :)

**Rin Ice Miyako - **I adore festivals in anime, so I thought I'd attempt one. I hope you enjoyed this chapter~

**saffihope101 - **New reader, I think! I'm glad that you like the story. :) I hope I can get comfortable with writing with canon characters. :)

**Nicky Azure -** I'm happy that you're looking forward to the festivals~

**Hiragami Kotone - **I'm happy that you loved the . Kimi's one of the "Not really gonna think and just go with my heart" type of people. XD I thought it would be fun to try with all of them... I feel sorry for Gabe... I unintentionally put him in the most awkward of situations... Working with Fame, Ikaros's naivety, being thrown on an all female team, and then being thrown in the room with Rogue and Sting. X_X And your question has been answered. :) Canon characters have appeared. :)


	30. Chapter 29

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ I hope you enjoy the chapter! I've gotten so many more readers, and it makes me so happy! Thank you so much for reading! I don't think I say that enough. Sorry to those who didn't think I did that well with the canon characters in the last chapter! I'll get better, hopefully. :)

Also, two notes. First... I had 1,000 words to this typed and my power went out, so I lost it. ; n ; So... That's why this may be even later than anticipated. X_X I don't take it easily when I lose writings and it usually takes me twice or three times as long to rewrite things.

Second, the canon characters that appear as far away from comfort zone with characters as a character can be. On top of that, I dislike two of them, so... Just letting you know that before you criticize me on them. :)

* * *

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

"...So...What were you gonna wait to tell me, Gwen?" Leo asked the small girl was that was sitting in front of him on the train. He, Gwen, Kai and Marionette had formed a team after being informed that the guild would be doing a large scale mission and they had boarded a train that would lead them as close to the icy village of Snapdragon. They would be on the train for a couple of days and then they would have to walk for a bit to find an inn in a small village that would be near the snowy landscape that they would have to trek through to meet their client. There, they would be booked for another hotel that they would stay for a night before returning to Nadeshiko with the client.

Gwen looked up from the thick book that she had in her hands. "Oh... Well..." she started. The technician mage had been upset upon hearing about a village named Sunflower and she had informed Leo that she would tell him later. "I'm from Sunflower," she started. "And... Nezuko-chan and I came to the guild because we needed somewhere to work. We didn't even really know much magic before deciding to join the guild," she said, rubbing the back of her head. "We left because... Well... My mom and Nezuko's dad had an affair together, which caused a fight between our families, namely our fathers, since they're brothers, and Nezuko-chan and I weren't allowed to see each other. On top of that, my dad fell into a state of depression and my mom spent time elsewhere, so no one was giving me the medicine that made me feel better... And when Nezuko-chan found out, she announced that we would run away..."

"Oh, wow, I'm sorry," Leo said, his eyes dropping to his lap. He remembered that Gwen and Nezuko both looked sickly when he met them, especially Gwen, but he never knew much about their history. Now he felt bad for asking since it probably brought up bad memories.

"Don't be~ I still visit with my father sometimes!" Gwen said, shaking her head and smiling. She didn't want sympathy; all of her family was alive and well, which was more than most people in the guild could say. She didn't have a bad past! "I love my dad, but my mom doesn't really like me very much because I really take after my dad in every way," she said, laughing lightly to avoid ruining the atmosphere of the train.

"Not to be rude, but you joined a mage's guild without knowing magic?" Marionette asked. She was just curious; she was always under the impression that mages joined mages guild to strengthen their magic and use it in their work.

"That's not rude, Marionette-san," Gwen said, turning to the girl and noticing that her eye twitched when she added the honorific to her name. "I didn't want to be a mage," she said. "It was the best way that kids could earn money... I learned my magic through books and admiration of a mage from Blue Pegasus was we traveled." she explained.

"Hibiki?" Kai asked, furrowing his brow. He didn't know anyone else who used a magic similar to hers.

Gwen nodded as an answer. She wanted to know how everyone else had learned their magic, too, but she was afraid to ask, since a lot of people really didn't like talking about their past, so she remained silent, shifting uncomfortably.

"Do you still wanna be a mage?" Leo asked. He couldn't imagine Gwen not being a part of the guild, but she always seemed to hate battling, so he wondered if she planned to quit one day. She was old enough to work in a shop and she was mostly better in terms of health, so she could.

"Ummmm..." Gwen hummed, her eyes dropping to the ground. "I think so... Yeah... I have lots of friends in the guild, and I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else," she said, looking up him with a cheerful smile.

Gwen was an optimist that liked to make everyone around her happy. That was something that Marionette had learned in the short time around her. She wasn't unbearably optimistic, but it was the type of optimism that left a bitter taste in one's mouth after hearing it too many times. The light mage was pretty sure that the girl beside her actually did not want to be a mage, but instead just wanted to give Leo the answer that he wanted to hear. He wondered if either of the dense men in front of her would see that.

"I couldn't imagine the guild without you, my damsel!" Leo said, grinning at her. Something was off about the way she spoke, but he wasn't going to question it.

"Marionette, will 'damsel' work as a nickname for you?" Kai asked, once he noticed that Gwen didn't seem to mind that Leo called her that.

"No!" Marionette snapped, her eye twitching. "I told you to call me by my name and nothing else!"

"Aww... My queen, you know I'm not gonna do that!" Kai said, grinning at him. He and Leo had similar flirtatious grins, though Kai's eyes seemed to sparkle more than Leo's.

Marionette was pretty sure she was going to find a cliff to jump off by the end of this mission.

"Aw, what's wrong with that? It suits a pretty girl like you just fine, damsel" Leo said, flashing his grin at Marionette now.

Marionette shot him an evil glare. "Do NOT call me that! Either of you!" She had thought that Kai was annoying, but Leo was absolutely repulsive to her.

Gwen felt her stomach churn when Leo flirted with Marionette. She had started to let on that she liked him, but he didn't seem to be letting up on flirting with other girls too much. It was hurtful.

* * *

The area where the first inn that they would be staying at was located was quite cold already, and Gwen wanted to rush inside, but none of her teammates seemed to worry too much about it, so she walked slowly with them.

The inn that they were staying at was small, with only a small lobby with a counter and a hallway to the left and right of said counter. There was a cheerful man with slicked-back, peppered colored hair behind the counter. He smiled when his eyes landed on the guild mark that was on Leo's left shoulder. "Silver Griffin, I suppose, since the other team of mages is already here?" he asked.

"Other team of mages?" Marionette asked, arching a brow as they walked forward. They hadn't been given any notes about another group of mages as far as she was aware.

"Oh, yes... Blue Pegasus, if I am correct," the man said, his eyes darting to each of the mages, who all looked confused. "I was told that I would be having two mages that would be staying here on an escort mission, and even though two different people told me this, I only assumed that the mages would be working together."

"We were not informed that we would be working with another guild, so it must simply be a coincidence," Marionette said. However, she wondered if her words were actually true.

"Well, here are your room keys," the man said, handing over four keys that had black numbers on them. "My name is Oscar, and if you need anything please do tell!" he said, bowing his head respectfully.

The griffins returned the polite gesture, but before they walked away, Kai's key caught Marionette's eye and she noticed that the numbers matched her key. She looked to Gwen's key and found the same number as well. She couldn't see over Leo's shoulder to see his, but she could only assume that it would also be the same. "Excuse me... But do we only have one room booked?" she asked in a formal tone.

Gwen's face turned pink at the thought and she quickly skipped forward to look at Leo's key and Kai's key, her eyes widening when all of the numbers matched.

"Yes... I'm sorry, but there was only one room left... It does have four beds, if that helps," Oscar responded, a sweat-drop forming on his forehead.

Kai and Leo laughed as Marionette's face paled in disgust and Gwen's face turned beet red.

Marionette was coming even closer to loving the thought of jumping off of a cliff. At least it was only for one night, if that could really be considered a positive.

As they began walking towards their room, Leo threw an arm over Gwen's shoulder. "We will be spending the night together, my damsel..." he said in a mockingly silky voice.

Still, it made Gwen's face steam and she let out a nervous hum. "I-It... Erm... Yeah..." Gwen stammered. She didn't know why it bothered her so much. Marionette and Kai would be in the same room. The way he spoke drove her crazy and she felt herself covering her face with her hands and giggling under her breath.

Marionette saw the way Gwen was acting and found herself rolling her eyes. How could someone fall for overly flirtatious guys like Leo and Kai? They were the worst.

As they walked, a door near them opened and three guys came out, practically emitting sparkles and hearts from their bodies as their eyes landed on Marionette and Gwen.

"Oh, my, hello ladies," the first one, a man with golden-brown hair and dark eyes said, his eyes flashing as he was began to pull Gwen and Marionette from  
Kai and Leo. "How are you this fine evening?" he asked just as the two guys beside them got behind the griffin girls.

"You are quite beautiful," a blond man with large eyes that made him look younger than he actually was stepped around Marionette, smiling at her. "Maybe you are worthy of being my Nee-san?" he asked, grabbing her hands and leaning forward.

Ugh. Marionette would rather be shot. However, she faked a smile and said, "...Maybe..." in a low, flirtatious tone. In her years of being matured, she had learned that this was the best way to deal with flirtatious men. If you threw a dog a bone, they would fetch it and go away... And hopefully get lost on the way back.

"You are adorable," a tanned man wrapped his arm around Gwen's shoulder from behind and slouched to lean his head on her shoulder, his soft black hair brushing her cheek. "It's not like I like you or anything, though, so don't get the wrong idea," he added, quickly letting her go.

Gwen found herself blushing, though she was so confused. Her eyes were also on the golden-brown haired man, admiration sparkling in them, though it wasn't meant to be taken as a crush. "Hi-Hibiki-sama..." she mumbled under her breath. She had always loved Hibiki's magic. It was like the stronger version of Technician magic to her.

Hibiki heard his name and flashed Gwen a flirtatious smile as he flipped his hair and winked at her. "We are the Trimens of Blue Pegasus," he said. "Why don't you two come to our room for the night?" he purred. "I am Hundred Night Hibiki," he introduced himself.

"I am Holy Night Eve," the blond man said.

"I am Empty Night Ren," the tanned man said.

Leo and Kai glared at the men, but they didn't get the chance to speak as they were slammed into the wall to part the way for a short, muscular man with long orange hair. "What a beautiful perfume!" he said, pronouncing "perfume" in an accent. He danced his way over to Marionette, sniffing her, before twirling as he made his way to Gwen, sniffing her as well. "Simply magnificent, mehn," he said, stepping back and crossing his arms over his chest, striking a pose as sparkles danced from him.

"Ichiya-sama," the three men said, greeting the orange-haired man with a bow. When they stood back up, they were striking the same pose as him.

This guy was creepy and annoying. Marionette glared at him and then stepped away. "Thank you for the offer of spending the night with you, but I will decline," she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder and walking back to Leo and Kai, who were pulling themselves off the ground after sliding down the wall.

Gwen opened her mouth to ask Hibiki about his magic some more, but she noticed that Marionette had walked off, so she closed her mouth and ran back over to them.

"Such beauty..." Hibiki purred. He then looked at Leo's guild mark. "Are all of you mages?" he asked.

"We were questioned if we were to be working with another team," Eve started. "We will gladly work with two lovely ladies, but we don't care for other guys."

"We're not working with you guys," Leo stated. He was trying to hide it, but he didn't like the way Gwen looked at Hibiki. He... He was jealous...? Maybe... Either way, he didn't like Hibiki.

"Yeah, I don't think anyone could stand you guys," Kai said. Marionette was his, even if she didn't think it yet. And besides, she almost seemed to be flirting with Eve. He was not risking her finding a guy that met up to her standards before he met up to her standards and stole her heart away.

Marionette noticed that the happy sparkle was gone from Kai's eyes. He was jealous. How amusing? Wait, why would that amuse her? She pushed the thoughts aside and turned her nose up to Kai, who wasn't even paying attention to her.

Gwen wanted to work with Hibiki, just long enough to see his magic, but she seemed to be outweighed by her team, so she was silent.

"Oh, I see that the lovely ladies haven't answered," Hibiki pointed out.

"No one can resist the charm of the Trimens!" Ichiya said, puffing his chest out. "Even ladies with such refined perfumes..."

Leo's hands balled into fists when he noticed that Gwen seemed to be staring at Hibiki. He grabbed her and shoved past the men. "We're not interested in working with you idiots!" he said, as he passed them.

"L-Leo!" Gwen called, stumbling as she was pulled along by her wrist. He was acting really different. It worried her.

Marionette followed them, glad that Leo had made a clearing, sticking her nose up to the men as she walked past them. Her attempt at throwing them off had failed, so she was just going to ignore them.

Kai followed, giving them glares that told them to back off as he walked past.

* * *

Their room was small, with two bunk beds and a small table where they could sit and eat. There was a door that led to a small bathroom with a shower, towels, and toiletries.

Kai closed the door and leaned on it once he was in the room. "Damn. Those guys are really, really annoying! Thinking they can just flirt with our girls like that!" he breathed.

"I am not yours," Marionette reminded him, climbing the bed that was over the bed that Gwen had called. "Though I do agree that they were quite the nuisance..."

Leo called the bottom bed and sat down. Damn. That wasn't good. He had pretty much just flaunted his possessive side. He hadn't really meant to and he had already calmed down, but he was really, really jealous. Hibiki-sama? Really? That was... Hurtful. He didn't want to be referred that way because it would be awkward, but he didn't want her thinking that way of some other guy, either.

"I think it would be better to work with them, though," Gwen said in a tiny voice. "It would make them remember our guild, and that would be good, right?" she said, staring at Leo, who was still acting weird.

That was hurtful, too. He had a feeling Gwen would only be doing it so that she could work with Hibiki. "No. I think we can do this mission fine by ourselves. Not to mention I don't think that we're even supposed to be doing the same mission anyway..."

Marionette snorted. She could not take it anymore. "You know, I think it's the definition of hypocrisy when you flirt with any woman, and Gwen asks a little different towards a guy and you decide that jealousy is the best way to go," she said, looking down at Leo. She was not taking up for Gwen; she had lost her patience with Leo.

Leo flinched at that and didn't respond.

"Hmph!" Marionette rolled her eyes and fell back onto he back. She had hit him where it hurt and she was fine with this.

Kai climbed onto his bed and sat there, sensing the tension in the room.

"Jealous?" Gwen asked, her eyes widening. She remembered the tight feeling that she got in her chest when Leo flirted with other girls. The fact that she had nearly cried over jealousy countless times. She hadn't meant to make him jealous. She felt awful. "I-I'm s-sorry," she stammered out. How had she even made him jealous? She always figured it was obvious that she was practically-if not literally-in love with him.

"You should not be apologizing with the way he acts towards women!" Marionette called down to her.

"You two don't understand where we are coming from," Kai started, only to stop when he saw Marionette's eyes darken.

"Why should you be jealous?" she asked in a harsh tone when she heard him use the phrase "we" instead of "he" or "Leo".

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe because the tone that you used with those guys when you only ever give me the cold shoulder?" Kai asked. No... He was not temperamental. Letting anger get to him would only make this get even more out of hand. He could feel the tension in the room rising.

Marionette scoffed and rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time. "One, I was only trying to get them to leave me alone. Flirting usually works. Two, I do not like you so you should expect the cold shoulder as it's a maneuver to try to get you to go away!"

Kai sighed. "Marionette, you know I like you, maybe love you, right? So, I'm not going to like guys like that, especially when they make it obvious that they don't want other guys around," he explained.

His words threw her off and it was everything she had to keep her composure. "Whatever," she eventually coughed, her voice wavering ever-so-slightly as she fell back again. She could feel her cheeks burning. Had he really just went there? Really? That was... Humiliating. Why was her heart pounding, though? Why would he say that? She felt so embarrassed that she wanted to scream at him and tell him how much of a moron he was, but instead she just stared at the ceiling, willing her heart to stop beating so fast. Why was she responding to his words? Besides, he had used the word "maybe" so it probably wasn't true anyway. He was just trying to get to her. But still... He had even called her by her name, no nicknames involved.

Kai let out a sigh, pulled his broadsword off of his back, let it drop to the floor loudly, and then fell back. Great, their entire team was fighting. How amazing this mission was going to be.

"Don't be sorry. I should control my temper," Leo said, giving Gwen a weak smile before lying down and rolling over. He wasn't going to let this get to him. Marionette was right; it would be nothing short of hypocritical and it wasn't right of him. He would let it pass and if Gwen didn't love him, then she didn't. It was just something he'd have to deal with from not sweeping her off of her feet earlier.

Gwen looked around, noting the tension in the room and letting out a small sigh. She assumed that everyone was going to sleep, so she got up and cut off the light. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep, though, so she just curled up on her bed and hugged the pillow. She would have to hide her admiration for Hibiki; she didn't want to hurt Leo, even though she didn't see why admiring someone's magic was hurtful. She got lost in her own thoughts, her eyes on the bed. She could hear everyone else in the room shift every now and again and it bothered her. No one was going to be able to sleep, it seemed.

* * *

The day came and Gwen had barely even fallen asleep, still sitting up with her chin resting on the pillow that was nestled between her knees and her stomach. She felt someone tap her on the shoulder and she jumped. "Heh?" she looked around, seeing that everyone apart from her was already awake. She also noted that Kai and Leo had changed clothing so that they would be warmer.

Leo had changed into a black zip-up sweater vest over a dark green long sleeved shirt that was tucked into blue jeans. The belt that held up said blue jeans was done in a lazy fashion as always. He was wearing black combat boots, black finger-less gloves, a dark green scarf and a black beanie.

Kai had on camo pants that looked to be a bit thicker and a black jacket with a golden griffin on the back of it, along with snow boots.

"Oh, I-I, um, need to get dressed," Gwen said, smiling timidly at Leo, who had woken her up, and grabbing her backpack, heading for the bathroom. Once in there, she quickly began to change. She changed into a pink and gray striped shirt that fell to her ankles and covered her hands since it was too big, gray and pink striped leggings that were quickly covered by solid gray pants that were lined with fluffy white fur and stuffed into boots that came about half-way up her calve muscle, colored pink with white fur lining, and pink and gray striped gloves. On top of that, she took the ribbon from her hair, brushed her hair back, and pulled on a pink and gray striped hat that had strings with pink pompoms hanging from it and a gray pompom on the top. She wrapped a pink and gray striped scarf around her neck and threw a huge pink coat that was lined with white fur over her shoulder. She was pretty sure she'd have to wear the coat, but she didn't want to walk out of the bathroom with it on. When she emerged from the bathroom, she got odd stares from her teammates.

"I take it being from a beach town makes you dislike the cold?" Marionette asked. She could tolerate the cold perfectly fine.

"Gwen, are you going to be okay?" Leo asked, laughing lightly, especially when she noticed the jacket that she was carrying.

"Yeah," Gwen said, smiling sheepishly. It seemed as though everyone had put last night's events behind them, and that made her really happy.

"Alright, through the tundra!" Kai cheered. His eyes then landed on Marionette. "My queen, if you need my jacket, I can always lend it to you," he offered, grinning at the blonde woman.

Marionette stuck her nose up to him. "I will be fine! And why have you stuck with that nickname?" she asked, noticing that he had been calling her his queen more often than not. Apparently him calling her by her real name had been a one time thing.

"You don't argue with it as much, and I think it suits you perfectly," Kai responded.

"Please call me by my name," Marionette said in a low voice. She was starting to realize how hopeless the argument was, but she wasn't going to give up on it.

The four walked out of the room and checked out of the hotel. They stepped out of the hotel, but they were stopped by familiar voices once they started walking.

"Mehn! We have found the wonderful perfume!" Ichiya said, landing in front of the group, sparkling.

Almost instantly, sparkles rained down and the other three Trimens appeared behind him, all flipping their hair and smiling charmingly.

"We have decided that we will work with you, guys included," Hibiki said. "Care to introduce yourselves and your guild?" he asked.

Kai and Leo glared, but both realized that it was best to be nice about this, so Leo spoke first. "We're from Silver Griffin, a guild in Nadeshiko. My name is Leo," he said.

"I'm Kai," Kai introduced himself.

"I'm Gwen," Gwen introduced herself, smiling sweetly.

"And I am Marionette," Marionette said.

"But how do you guys even know that we need to work together?" Kai asked.

"It wouldn't be coincidence. We're escorting a client to Nadeshiko for something called the Nightshade festival," Hibiki said. He had taken in the fact that Leo had said that Silver Griffin was a guild in Nadeshiko.

"Then we are supposed to work together," Kai sighed, a bit of bitterness in his voice. "Oh, well," he shrugged. "Let's get this mission over with," he said.

With that, they began to walk, the Trimens falling into step behind Marionette and Gwen.

They all walked in relative silence. It began to snow and after a few minutes of walking, the snow thickened to where it was hard to see in front of them.

"Oi, blond boy. Don't you use Snow Magic?" Leo asked. "Couldn't you stop the snow or something so we can see where we are going?" He only knew the boy's magic from watching the games a couple of times.

"Maybe," Eve responded. "Though I'm better with creating snow than stopping it," he added, a sweat drop appearing on his forehead.

"I can map out everything," Gwen offered. "I mean... I think I can see if a city is anywhere near," she added in a smaller voice as she pulled up her technician screen. It wouldn't help as much, but at least they wouldn't get lost.

"You use Archive magic?" Eve asked, stepping forward. It definitely looked similar to Hibiki's magic, but it was blue and the screen and keyboard looked different.

"No wonder you produce such an alluring perfume," Ichiya said, twirling around Gwen, who ignored him since she was using her magic. She hadn't even heard Eve's question.

"It's not exactly Archive magic," Hibiki said, stepping forward as well. It was similar, maybe a branch of his magic. He wrapped an arm around Gwen. "Mind telling me some information about your magic, little beauty?" he asked.

"Heh?" Gwen finally pulled her eyes away from the screen when Hibiki touched her. She blushed brightly and then hummed before speaking. "It-It's not as good as Archive magic, but it works very similarly. I have to use a lightning mage to be able to use it offensively, apart from mines, though," she said. "Though it's okay because Leo uses a form of lightning magic, so we make a really good team!"

Hibiki watched the screen and then smiled flirtatiously down at the girl who was working it. "I think you and I would make a really good team, too," he purred.

Gwen let out a little squeak of surprise and blushed. Leo was around. She couldn't say that she only had eyes for him; she just couldn't get the words out. So, she ended up putting her eyes back on the screen. They had a long walk to go, it seemed. However, she had managed to find that they were walking in the right direction. She didn't even realize that she let Hibiki's arm rest around her shoulders.

Leo took her unresponsiveness and blushing the wrong way and he felt his jealousy boiling over once again. It took everything he had not to attack Hibiki, but he didn't do it. How come she just seemed to take to him instantly? Sure, they had similar magics, but Hibiki wasn't any better than him other than that.

"It's not like I would ever like you or anything, but it seems like you are alone over here," Ren said, suddenly appearing behind Marionette.

Marionette's fist instantly came up and collided with his face. Flirting hadn't worked, ignoring them hadn't worked, so now it was time to use violence, she thought.

Kai laughed as the tanned man stumbled back, rubbing his nose. He then walked over and slung an arm around Marionette's shoulders. "This one's taken, you know," he said, pulling her close.

Marionette's eye twitched and she punched Kai in the face as well. He didn't get the first two steps of her process for dealing with annoying men; she found it to be too much fun to hurt him.

Kai laughed after he stumbled back. He had expected that, but it was always worth a shot.

"I think we can just continue to walk," Gwen said, dropping her screen and turning to everyone. She noticed that Leo's eyes had darkened and she frowned. What was wrong with him? Was he jealous again? She hadn't meant to!

Hibiki puled Gwen closer. "What's wrong? Such a frown doesn't suit someone of your beauty," he spoke in a smooth voice, smiling down at her.

"Oh, um, nothing," Gwen said in a small voice, gently pulling away from him. She then walked over to Leo and fell into step with him, looking up at him with worried eyes. She hadn't realized that Hibiki had been holding her. One, she had put her thick jacket on after leaving the inn, and two, she was into her magic. She knew that it must have looked wrong. She didn't know how to go about apologizing, though.

Marionette watched the scene and sighed sympathetically. She caught Ichiya, who was sniffing her and dancing on his tip-toes behind her, out of the corner of her eye and gave him a dark glare, which didn't help at all. She reached forward and snatched Kai's sword from his back with both hands, making him turn around with suspicious eyes. Marionette then shot her magic through the sword and scowled at Ichiya. "I will use this..." she hissed as the light magic in the sword lit up her face.

Kai burst out laughing at that and turned back around. He didn't mind her using his sword, though it if had been anyone else that had taken it, he probably would have beat them to the ground. At least one thing was for certain; she didn't have any interest in Ichiya or Ren, though she hadn't reacted to Eve again, which brought questions to his head. He had an idea, though. He would talk to Leo about it when they got to the next inn.

* * *

When they arrived in Snapdragon two days later, they began to look around for the hotel. The town was super tiny, consisting of a couple of buildings appeared to be apartment complexes, a small cafe that had the smell of sweets and grease coming from it, one clothing shop and the two story hotel where they would be staying. They knew that cafe, known as the Dragon's Den, was where they would be meeting the client in the morning.

Kai's head peeped into the clothing shop as they passed, glad to see that it was still open even though it was night and glad to see that they did have what he needed.

The Trimens checked into the inn before them, and then Marionette and Gwen stepped up to the counter. "We are Silver Griffin mages. We should have reservations for two rooms," Marionette said in a formal tone.

The woman behind the counter, a young woman with dark brown hair and caramel eyes hidden behind round, thick framed glasses began to blush and sweat. "Ehhh... Well... You see... We had an emergency and someone needed a room; they offered to pay a lot more money than what your guild master payed, so since there are only four of you, we moved you into a room for four... I didn't think about the fact that you may want gender segregation," she explained, all in a really fast voice.

Marionette's eye darkened and she scowled at the woman, but suddenly, she gained her composure. "Fine. Thank you for your time. We would like our keys, if you may," she said in an emotionless tone. She was irritated beyond words. The first time, their hadn't been rooms available, which was okay, she guessed, but this time they had moved them out of their rooms? How rude!

Gwen and Marionette took the keys, each taking two and handing one to the boys who were behind them. They began walking to the room, only for Gwen to look behind them when they had made it up the stairs to see that Kai and Leo were still in front of the desk, talking quietly.

Marionette stopped when Gwen stopped and looked back, her eyebrow twitching upward in question as she saw that the guys weren't following them.

"Hey," Gwen called.

Leo looked up and grinned at her. "Don't worry about us! We're gonna go get some stuff. We'll be back in a bit, my damsel!" he called, waving at her.

"Don't forget about me, my precious queen!" Kai called, waving at Marionette.

Gwen and Marionette watched them walk off with confusion in their eyes.

"Let us simply go. I think it will be nice to be without them for a bit," Marionette said, continuing up the second flight of stairs and finding their room.

The room wasn't quite as small as the last one. However, there were only two huge beds in the room. Yes, they could probably fit 2-3 people, but still. There were two small nightstands in between the beds, a TV lacrima against the wall that the door was, positioned so that both beds could see it. There was a rectangular coffee table at the foot of the beds, in front of the TV lacrima, which four pillows around it. There was a door in the room that led to a bathroom with a nice sized shower, two sinks, and fancy toiletries.

"Erm..." Gwen hummed, stepping into the room. "Are...How... How are we supposed to sleep?" she asked in a tiny voice. There really wasn't enough room for anyone to sleep on the floor unless they rearranged the room or something... Or someone could sleep in the bathroom, which wouldn't be good either, since no one would be able to use the bathroom until they woke up.

"I... Don't know..." Marionette responded. "I would guess that you and I will share a bed," she said. At least Gwen was fairly small and so was she. They would be able to sleep on the bed without touching.

"O-okay," Gwen said timidly, sitting her backpack on the floor in front of her bed. She then pulled out a shirt and t-shirt and disappeared into the bathroom. When she came back out, Marionette was sitting on the bed with her boots removed. Gwen had changed into a white t-shirt that had the image of two brown teddy bears kissing on the front and pink short shorts that were barely visible under the shirt. Her hair was down and her bangs halfway covered her eyes. She decided to sit on the other bed until the guys returned. "What do you think the guys are doing?" she asked Marionette.

"Being idiots would probably be the correct answer," Marionette responded. She really had no clue, but something in the back of the head told her that the urge to jump off of a cliff would return when they returned.

* * *

**Author's Note: **That's it! Hope you enjoyed the chapter~ Leave a review if you want! Erm... Sorry about this chapter being so late. Oh, I don't like Ichiya or Ren... And yeah... I left it at a cliffhanger that won't be picked up for a while. ; n ; Oh, and I know I left out Nichiya. That will be explained later, but it's not a plot device of any kind.

*****NOTE ABOUT UPDATES******

I may not get something uploaded everyday this week as I move Friday and am really, really busy. Also, after Friday, I may not have internet for a while, so... I'll be writing, but I won't be able to upload whatever I write and I won't be able to get any messages with suggestions or anything. I may not get a chapter up Wednesday or Thursday, especially, as I will be out both of those days getting things done and spending time with family.

**Review Responses: **

Thank you all for the reviews as always~ Lots of love from me!

**Gureifox - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter and hopefully I can get better with the canon characters!

**Junior the Otaku - **Winter will not explain that until the end of the arc. :) I do have a reason and it's not just mix-ups or anything, though. Thank you! I hope most people think that way... I thought about doing a bunch of one-shots or something to help me with canon characters, but I really don't have the time for that now, with moving and such. X_X I'm also happy that you're interested in this arc!

**La Maitresse' Dame - **Okay. That's good~ I had a fun time with Marionette, since she's surrounded by annoying men and then Gwen in this chapter. XD Hope I got her right, since you gave me that extra bit of personality information about the rare occasion that she does show that she can flirt. :)

**DraXXter - **I'm really really happy that you enjoyed it so much! I hope you continue to enjoy it! And with Monk, Coyote and Fame, they're supposed to be that way with their arrogance, so it's okay if you don't like them. :)

**Hiragami Kotone - **I'm really happy that you enjoyed the chapter and I'm happy I got Hikari's temper right! Hopefully I can get better with Sting and Rogue, too. :)

**Nicky Azure - **I'm really happy that you enjoy my portrayal of the Twin Saber guys. I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter. :)

**Rin Ice Miyako - **I'm really happy that you enjoyed the chapter~ I'm glad that you think I did a good job with the canons. :)

**Link - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter! I will be without internet, too, soon. ; n ; I love Frosch~ He's my second favorite canon character ever. :)

**shadowssj12 - **I do keep the Fairy Tail Wiki pulled up when I working with canon characters. I read the synopsis, personality and magic of each character. I also look in manga chapters to get speech habits down, though it's hard since there are a lot of manga chapters. ; n ; I can't rewatch anime episodes because I don't have the time or the good enough internet to do so. X_X The internet at my house and my fiance's house is awful... I'm happy that you think I did a good job, though.


	31. Chapter 30

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ Enjoy the chapter. Uhhhh, I've never written with these canon characters, either and while I think I'll be okay with two of them, I may not portray one of them greatly. Hope you enjoy the chapter, nonetheless!

**Guys~ Remember to vote on the poll, please? It'll close on the fourteenth and then soon after be replaced by a poll regarding sequels, even though it is nowhere near time for a sequel... Still helps to consider it, right?**

**Lastly, my Beta profile is active, so you can request me as a beta if you'd like~**

* * *

CHAPTER THIRTY

"This mission is going to be so much fun, right?" Cantrelle said, skipping in front of Adrian, Sharon, Yuki and Sara. They were on their way down to Lotus to board a train there, since it seemed like it would be the fastest way to get to Sunflower Village, where they would be collecting seashells for a client. All of the mages were in good moods and had packed their swimwear, since this mission was going to be just as much of a vacation as it was a mission.

"Of course, Cantrelle-chan!" Adrian responded, smiling brightly at the young girl. Even though Sharon was near his age, the male looked almost like he was baby sitting or something, since he was taller and more mature looking than the rest of the mages. He didn't mind, though. He was looking forward to the mini vacation.

"This is going to be awesome!" Yuki cheered, his tail wagging back and forth. He would be able to find the seashells pretty quickly, and maybe they could spend some time playing on the beach. Not to mention that he was with a really cheerful team, so he couldn't help but to be even more cheerful than usual.

"It's going to be really fun~" Sara said, giggling at Yuki's bouncy behavior. She was looking forward to spending time with everyone. She loved the idea of spending time at the beach with Yuki.

Sharon didn't say anything, but just stretched her arms over her head and sighed contentedly. She was looking forward to sun-tanning and reading. She would help with the mission, of course, but still; it wouldn't hurt to soak up the sun a bit.

The five continued to walk, chatting a bit about what they were going to do when they got to the town.

"Adri, are we gonna go shopping some while we're there?" Sharon asked. She didn't recall ever visiting Sunflower, but if it was a high-class beach town, there were probably lots of shops.

"If you want, Sharon-chan," Adrian responded. "We should all go and enjoy our time when we complete the mission," he added. He was looking forward to spending time with everyone, though he didn't care so much about what they were doing.

* * *

Sunflower Village was indeed a beautiful village, though the title of "village" probably didn't suit it. The first street they got off in was huge street full of shops and open-air street vendors. People were talking and yelling out the prices of their various merchandise, which seemed to act as magnets to the people that got off of the train. At the end of the street, there appeared to be a couple of larger buildings that were either hotels or apartment complexes, most likely. The train station was crowded and as the bright sun beat down on the village, it was hot.

"Ahgg!" Sharon already felt herself starting to sweat, and she looked to Adrian to see him pulling his sweater over his head to reveal a white under-shirt. He had also removed his scarf and stuffed it in his backpack. "We need to get to the hotel so that I can get into my swimsuit," she said, fanning herself. The sun was killer compared to Nadeshiko, which had a fairly mild climate and many of the streets were shaded by trees.

"I agree," Sara said.

"Hmhm," Cantrelle agreed.

With that, they remembered that Winter had told them that their hotel was closer to the beach and they would have two separate rooms. They could see the white sands of the beach down at the end of the street so they fell into the stream of slow moving people and began to walk.

"We're walking so slooooowwww," Sharon complained once they had only made it a few feet down the street within five minutes. Even though there was a clear line for people who were actually shopping, people that were in the line of walking people stopped almost as often.

Yuki let out a small pained growl as he felt people grabbing at his tail every-so-often. He would hear parents scolding their children and it would annoy him. His ears twitched and he pushed himself forward so that he was in between Adrian and Sharon.

"Are you okay, Yuki-kun?" Adrian asked, stepping back to get out of the way of the fox mage.

Sara blinked in confusion but then sighed sympathetically when she realized what must have been happening, just from the way Yuki was curing his tail around himself. "Sorry, Yuki-kun," she called from behind Adrian.

Yuki pouted and continued to walk, his tail aching now.

* * *

They arrived a nice sized hotel that was much cooler than the open air of the city. Sharon let out a sigh of relief as they entered the hotel, which had a huge lounge area with large, plush sofas with sunflower printed designs on them. There wasn't a TV, but instead a bunch of huge shelves with assorted books. A young woman, who had black hair that was pulled into pigtails and large, bright yellow eyes greeted them from behind the counter.

"Good day, travelers!" she called. "Do you have rooms already booked?" she asked, pulling out a black book and opening it, her eyes shining curiously. She didn't see Cantrelle, who was now behind Adrian, so she smiled. "Couples vacation?" she asked, noticing that Sharon was close to Adrian, though they weren't touching, and Sara was next to Yuki, her hand running through the fur of his tail.

Sara's face turned the darkest shade of red and she took her hand back, lacing her fingers behind her back, her eyes falling to the ground.

Sharon found herself blushing. Did she and Adrian look like a couple? She hadn't thought much about it, but they were constantly together since Adrian joined. She was also pretty sure she hadn't felt so happy since he joined the guild. He was always willing to take missions or go shopping with her. He also had a selfless attitude that made her smile.

"Ahaha..." Adrian laughed nervously. He wasn't sure what to make of the question. He hadn't dated since his mom died, and even then, he was young, so nothing was ever really serious.

Yuki wondered why everyone acted so weird at the question, but he himself didn't question it. He was ready for the beach, so he just wanted to get changed.

"We do have two rooms booked," Adrian said, stepping forward. "We're mages from Silver Griffin," he answered.

"Really?" the girl asked. "What's with mages being so adorable these days?" she asked, giggling. "We have a trio of mages staying in another room, and they didn't really come off as the strong, noble type like I always picture mages."

Adrian laughed again. "We have a lot of adorable mages in Silver Griffin, though I think these four are probably the cutest!" he said, grinning back at his teammates. He hoped to meet the other cute mages, too! He took the keys from the woman and passed them out. "Thank you! Have a nice day!" he said, bowing.

The woman returned the bow and waved as the other mages waved at her.

They walked up the stairs and found their rooms, which were across the hall from each other. The males separated from the females and entered the rooms.

The rooms had two large beds with really fluffy pillows and bedding, along with a large window that overlooked the town, since the females' room was the one that overlooked the beach. There was a large TV lacrima on the wall and the bathroom had a nice sized shower, two sinks and a coffee pot with hot coffee in it and sugar and non-dairy cream beside it. Everything was decorated with sunflowers and sky patterns, making the room blue and golden in colors.

Yuki flopped onto the bed and laughed when he was absorbed it, barely visible to Adrian. "These beds are so big and comfy!" he called to Adrian, who had went into the bathroom to change.

Adrian came out in nothing but black swimtrunks that had purple stripes running down the sides and flopped onto his bed, his face sinking into the pillow. "You're right... Yuki-kun," he said, his voice muffled by the pillow.

Yuki laughed again and got up, grabbing out his swimwear and running to bathroom. He changed into a black and red checkered swimtrunks and a white t-shirt. His hair brushed his forehead when he removed his goggles. His nose twitched and he opened the door so that he could talk to Adrian. He leaned over and sniffed the black liquid in the pot, wrinkling his nose at the bitter smell. "Adrian, what is this liquid?" he asked, twitching his ears as he listened for Adrian's response.

Adrian, under the impression that everyone knew what coffee was, arched a brow and got up, walking into the bathroom to see what he was talking about. He saw Yuki's perplexed look and laughed before covering his mouth. "S-sorry..." he stammered. He then smiled. "That's coffee, Yuki-kun. It helps you stay awake if you're tired, but it's really bitter unless you put stuff in it," he said, tapping the sugar and cream.

"Oh..." Yuki said. "Should we go to the beach now?" he asked, grinning up at Adrian, not interested in something that helped him stay awake. He didn't feel tired and he didn't have problems sleeping when he wanted to sleep.

"Let's go see if the girls are done," Adrian said, returning the grin with a sweet smile.

Meawhile, the girls were enjoying the same luxuries. Sara and Cantrelle had agreed that it was no problem for them to share a bed, since the two tiny females would barely take up the space of one person. The two younger girls plopped down on the bed and laughed while Sharon went to change.

Sharon emerged from the bathroom with a brightly colored sea green bikini with blue stripes on it. She had finally removed the locket that she kept around her neck, not wanting to lose it to the ocean.

Sara changed next, switching her clothing to a simple white bikini.

Cantrelle changed last, changing into a pale green one piece.

At that time, someone knocked on the door and Sharon opened it to see Adrian and Yuki smiling at them.

Sharon smiled brightly in return. "Are we ready to go?" she asked. She turned and ran over to the bed, grabbing up a beach towel, umbrella that she probably wouldn't use, sunglasses and sunscreen.

"Yay!" Cantrelle cheered as they left the room, locking it up.

* * *

The beach was hot and somewhat crowded, but not enough that the mages couldn't find their way around. Each of them had a small beach tote hanging from their arms to store seashells that they had collected in. They walked down to the water, which was a deep, shining blue color, and began to look for seashells. The group split in two smaller groups, Adrian, Cantrelle and Sharon, and then Sara and Yuki.

It wasn't hard to find seashells, but the problem was finding ones that looked nice and weren't chipped or cracked.

"When are you going to teach me how to swim?" Cantrelle asked, picking up a few seashells to examine before stepping back as the deep blue waves washed up over her knees. She wasn't scared of water, but she was scared of getting in water that was too deep for her to touch. She was really looking forward to learning how to swim so that she would be able to get over this fear.

"When we get some seashells," Adrian responded. He had swimming goggles on his head now, since he planned to dive and search for shells, soon. "We're going to be here for a few days, and I promise at the end, you will be able to swim, Cantrelle-chan!" He then pulled the goggled over his head, brushing his bangs back away from his face. He dove underwater and disappeared.

Sharon watched him and then smiled slightly and began to pick up seashells some more. She couldn't wait to have some time to relax on the beach. She had already set up her spot, which was a couple of feet behind her.

Yuki began running around, scooping up seashells. He hadn't thought about the fact that they needed to find nice seashells, and when he saw that Sara seemed to be taking her time with it, he ran over to her. "What are you doing, Sara?" he asked.

"Hm?" Sara looked at him with confusion glinting across her eyes. "Working on the mission..." she answered, her brows furrowing sympathetically at the fact that he had asked such a silly question. Her eyes then fell to the bag that was on his arm and her eyes widened. "Yuki, have you actually been looking at the seashells or just scooping them up?" she asked, bringing a hand up to her mouth in a worried fashion.

"I thought we were just looking for seashells," Yuki responded. "I didn't know we have to look at them!"

Sara couldn't help but to giggle at them. "Why don't you go sit on our beach towel and sort through them, then?" she asked.

"Will you help me, please?" Yuki asked, leaning forward, which caused Sara to lean back with blush tinting her cheeks. He had so many seashells to sort through; it woudl take him all day if no one helped him!

"Of course!" Sara said, her voice wavering as her throat began to tighten from nerves. With that, they both walked over to the beach towel that Sara had brought out and began to sort through Yuki's shells.

Adrian swam around underwater until he noticed a few seashells. He smiled as best as he could without opening his mouth and dove for them. Apparently someone had the same idea and he ended up grabbing a hand that had some kind of guild mark on it. Suddenly, bubbles flooded into his face and he realized that he had made the person inhale water in surprise. His eyes widened and he grabbed the hand and pulled it up, holding a busty blonde woman against his chest as she coughed. "I'm so sorry!" he apologize, patting her back. "I didn't mean to scare you, Miss," he said, his tone very formal.

The girl finally caught her breath and she waved a hand in dismissal. "It's okay... I'm okay, "she said, stepping back in the water. She was wearing a white bikini with a pink design on it. Her hand had a pink guild mark on it.

"Fairy Tail?" Adrian asked. He wasn't as familiar with the big guilds as most, since he had spent a lot of his time for the past few years in random forests.

"Oh, yeah, I'm Lucy of Fairy Tail!" she said, introducing herself with a cheery smile. Her eyes then landed on the bright green mark that was on Adrian's left side. Her brows furrowed and then she laughed lightly. "I don't recognize your guild mark. I'm sorry," she said.

"Oh, no... It's okay!" Adrian waved it off. "I don't think Silver Griffin is as well-known as Fairy Tail! I'm Adrian of Silver Griffin, by the way!" he said, introducing himself with a bright smile as he removed the goggles from his face.

Sharon was watching the scene with Adrian and she squinted. The female looked so familiar. She wanted to meet her. "Cantrelle, stay here," she said, getting up and running over to Adrian. As she got closer, she recognized the girl and her face lit up. "LUUUUCCCYYYY!" she squealed, tackling the girl, causing her to let out a squeal of surprise.

Lucy looked scared until she realized who it was. "Sh-Sharon?" she asked, blinking as the girl clung to her. "Sharon, is that really you?!" she asked, her face lighting up with happiness.

"It is," Sharon mumbled, tears streaming down her face. "I've missed you... I haven't seen you in years..." she said. Lucy was always quite a few years older than her, but Sharon was mature as a child, and as such, they were best friends when they were younger. Lucy had left when she was sixteen, though, and Sharon was still young, so they never got around to meeting up... And then the Tenroujima incident had happened, and it had taken even more years away from them, since Sharon hadn't been able to meet her during this time, either.

Lucy returned the hug, tears in her own eyes as well as she clung to her friend. She noticed the guild mark on Sharon's arm and she stepped back, sniffling. "You joined a guild, too?" she asked. It was the same guild as the male that she had met. She wanted to ask them more about their guild, but when she looked around, Adrian was already back on the beach, talking to a small girl.

"Yeah..." Sharon said, sniffling. "I joined about three years ago," she said. "It's really fun... I know you're having lots of fun, too," she said, laughing lightly.

"Yeah," Lucy said, returning the laugh with a small giggle. "I hope your guild isn't as chaotic as Fairy Tail," she added.

"We have a few rowdy members, but our Guild Master keeps it under control," Sharon responded.

"Lu-chan~" a voice sounded from a ways off. Sharon looked to see a smaller female with blue hair that appeared to be layered. She was wading towards the water with a bag attached to her arm.

"Levy!" Lucy waved at the girl, smiling brightly when the girl caught up to them. "This is Sharon! She's a childhood friend of mine and she's a member of a guild called Silver Griffin!" she introduced Sharon.

"It's nice to meet you, Sharon," Levy said, bowing her head politely. The girl noticed the bag of seashells on Sharon's arm and she blinked as question filled her eyes. "Are you here collecting shells on a mission?" she asked.

Lucy's eyes widened when Levy spoke. She remembered how she had met Adrian and looked to Sharon to see her answer. However, they could be collecting them just for fun as well.

"Um, yeah. Are you as well?" Sharon asked, a sweat-drop appearing on her forehead as she noticed the contents of Levy's bag. That was weird. How many people actually asked mages to collect seashells for them? Did people really not enjoy the beach?

"Yeah, we're doing it for something called the Nightshade Festival," Lucy said, her voice slowing slightly as she tried to think of the name of the festival that they were working for.

Sharon's eyes drooped and dulled before she spoke in a flat voice. "We're most likely on the same mission..."

The girls stood there, all with narrowed eyes, wondering why a client had given their mission to multiple guilds like that.

"Oh, well," Sharon said, clapping her hands together. "We can get our mission done even faster and have more time to relax or shop, so why don't we reassemble our teams, get introduced and work together?"

"That sounds like a plan!" Lucy said, her eyes narrowing in determination.

* * *

Within a few minutes, the two groups of mages had reassembled.

Sara's eyes widened when she saw a small girl with dark blue hair that was with the Fairy Tail mages. "You're Wendy, the Sky Dragon Slayer, aren't you?" she asked, sparkles in her eyes as she met the girl.

"Um, yes... It-It's nice to meet you," Wendy said, stepping back a bit with blush on her face.

"Why are you so embarrassed, Wendy?" the white Exceed that was with her asked. "You are a member of the top guild in Fiore, you should expect people to look up to you!"

"I-I know, Carla, but I'm still not used to it," Wendy responded, laughing lightly.

"Oh, s-sorry," Sara stammered, realizing that she had embarrassed Wendy. "I'm Sara... I'm a Sky God Slayer and I think it would be really fun to train with you one day," she said, blushing lightly. She really wanted to train with Chelia or Wendy because they all had similar magic. She wouldn't be able to practice her healing spells too much with Wendy, but she could practice combat techniques.

"I'm Yuki! I'm a Fire Kitsune Slayer!" Yuki said, introducing himself enthusiastically.

"Fire Kitsune... Slayer?" Lucy asked, bringing a finger up to her chin as she thought about that. The boy did resemble a fox, so there was no doubt that he was telling the truth.

"I don't think I've ever read or heard about that kind of magic before," Levy said, her lip poking out and her brows furrowing as she thought about it.

"It's a lost magic, I think," Sharon responded. "We have quite a few odd mages at our guild," she said, laughing.

"Oh, what type of magic do you use, Sharon?" Lucy asked, interest sparkling in her eyes.

"Air magic," Sharon responded, making a tiny tornado in her hand and smiling proudly.

"Oh, I don't think I met you before, I'm Adrian," he said, smiling brightly at Wendy, Carla and Levy and then turning his attention to the entire team of Fairy Tail mages. "You four are so adorable!" he said, grinning brightly at the fairies, who were all a great deal smaller than him, especially Wendy, Levy and Carla.

Wendy and Levy blushed lightly while Carla glared at him.

Lucy laughed lightly and then asked, "Why type of magic do you use?"

"Nature magic," Adrian responded. With that, a green magic circle appeared and he pulled four flowers out of it, a pale pink one for Lucy, a fiery orange for Levy, a pale blue one for Wendy and a darker pink one for Carla. He passed them out and smiled kindly.

All three of the girls blushed while Carla still glared at him, worried about the way that he was treating Wendy. He looked to be a few years older than anyone else who was around, but yet he seemed to not look at age. He was probably close to being double Wendy's age!

Cantrelle noticed the way that Carla was glaring at Adrian. "Don't think badly of him for his magic~ He likes to be nice!" she said, hugging Adrian as she spoke, wrapping her arms around his waist. "My name is Cantrelle, by the way, and I know Song magic!"

Adrian laughed. "Sorry if I offended you, Carla-chan," he said, smiling down at the Exceed. He then turned his attention to the group. "I think we should split into two groups," he suggested.

"Can I work with you and Sharon?" Cantrelle asked with wide eyes as she stared up at Adrian.

"Is she your little sister?" Lucy asked. They had similar hair colors, though nothing else about them looked that similar. Still, it was a possibility.

"Not by blood, but yes by the way I see her!" Adrian said, returning Cantrelle's hug.

"Why don't you work with us, Lucy? And then Wendy and Levy can work with Sara and Yuki," Sharon suggested. She wanted to work with Lucy some while they were around because they did have a limited amount in Sunflower.

"Okay," Lucy agreed.

* * *

"How long has Silver Griffin been a guild?" Wendy asked in a polite voice once they had separated from the the other mages, walking down the beach to collect more seashells. She could tell that Yuki and Sara were around her age, maybe a couple of years older than her and she wanted to know more about them.

"I dunno," Yuki answered. He had never really had much interest in the guild's history. He had joined because it looked nice and his "parents" had told him that it was the best way for him to be able to practice his magic to the fullest extent.

"I think it's been around for a while, but the first guild master still runs the guild," Sara said. She, on the other hand, had taken some interest in learning the history of the guild. She had lived in Nadeshiko and knew about the guild long before she joined it alongside Yuki, she just hadn't felt confident enough to join the guild before she met Yuki.

Levy and Wendy had a look of inquiry flash across their eyes, but they didn't ask anything, which mad Carla huff. "I'll ask it the question that we're wondering," she said under her breath. She then turned to Yuki and Sara. "Why haven't we heard of you before if you have mages with strong magic?" she asked.

Yuki's ear twitched and his eyes scanned the area as if he was looking for answers in the general vicinity. "I don't know, really," he responded, a sweat-drop forming on his forehead. He was being honest. All he knew is that they didn't get a lot of missions and no one in their guild had ever done anything outstanding for one reason or another.

"Well..." Sara started. Over her two years in the guild, she had noticed that Winter was just a bit strict on the guild members and always wanted them to stay safe and out of trouble. "I think our guild master doesn't like us getting into trouble, and I think that's how a lot of guilds become known..."

Levy found herself laughing under her breath at that. "I think that's mostly our guild, Sara," she said. "I think Fairy Tail is mostly known for its strength and recklessness!"

Wendy giggled as well, thinking about how much the guild had probably costed Makarov just since she had joined it, and she hadn't even been a fairy for that long.

"We are probably going to be in the Grand Magic Games this year," Yuki said, dashing forward so that he could turn around and walk backwards in front of the girls that he was hanging out with. He had a large grin spread across his face and his tail was wagging. "I've heard Winter talking to the S-class mages about it and they've talked her into it!"

"Good luck, then!" Levy said cheerfully. "I'll look forward to seeing you there, though I never participate in them personally!"

"Good luck," Wendy said. She had been smiling, but the smile faded slightly. "They are really hard and sometimes people get hurt," she said, bringing the tips of her index fingers together in a nervous fashion.

"Sara has Sky God magic and Adrian knows a lot about making medicine, so we'll be fine," Yuki said, his eyes narrowing in determination. "If Winter lets us participate, we'll become the best guild in Fiore!" he declared.

Sara sweat-dropped and laughed nervously. Was it really right to be saying that to members of the current top guild in Fiore?

"I think it will be nice for Fairy Tail to have more competition," Levy said, which made Sara want to let out a sigh of relief. She was so scared that it would have upset Levy, Wendy or Carla, but they seemed fine with it.

"Um, Yuki-san," Wendy started in a nervous voice. "You use a form of slayer magic... Would Natsu-san be able to eat your flames... Or would you eat his...?" she asked.

Yuki's determined look faded to a more thoughtful expression. "I dunno..." he said. "I think we'd both be able to eat each other's flames or somethin'. I've never battled another person with fire slayer magic, so I wouldn't know," he admitted.

"I think it would be an interesting battle," Sara commented.

* * *

"So... What's your guild like, Sharon?" Lucy asked as she, Cantrelle, Adrian and Sharon looked for seashells around the beach as well.

"It's wonderful," Sharon said in a sincere voice.

Lucy noticed how Sharon's eyes seemed to dart ever-so-quickly over to Adrian, who was talking to Cantrelle about what kind of creature would have lived in a certain type of seashell. She decided that she would have to ask about that, later. She was already wondering if they were a couple, but they didn't seem to be quite that close.

Adrian finished his little lecture to Cantrelle and turned to Lucy and Sharon, having heard her question. "Our guild is ran by a really kind-hearted, elderly woman by the name of Winter. It's really peaceful apart from a couple of overly flirtatious guys and a rambunctious team that argues a lot," he said. He then clapped his hands on Sharon's shoulders. "We have a lot of S-class wizards, and she's one of them~" he said.

Sharon laughed at that, but Lucy's eyes widened. "You're an S-class mage?" she asked.

"Winter really makes the exams too easy, even when she tried to plan out a whole trial, so it's really not a big deal," she said, waving it off. "If Winter didn't have her sister helping her run the guild, I'm pretty sure we would all be S-class while still taking D-ranked missions because she treats us like children."

"Obaachan is really protective of all of us, especially me," Cantrelle said, frowning.

"Yeah, but it makes for a really peaceful environment, so I'm fine with it," Adrian said, trying to take up for Winter.

"It is good for relaxing, I guess," Sharon said.

"Still a bit lazy, I see?" Lucy asked, laughing. "You haven't changed that much," she pointed out.

"You haven't either," Sharon said, though her eyes dropped to Lucy's chest. "Apart from that," she said, blue lines forming on her forehead and her eyes going dark. She wasn't flat in that region, by any means, but she wasn't as blessed as Lucy, either.

Lucy squealed and covered her chest, but stopped when she realized that Adrian had already averted his attention. Not a perverted guy, apparently. Her eyes then narrowed mischievously and she pulled Sharon closer. "So... Is Adrian your boyfriend or something?" she asked in a low voice. She had every intention of teasing her friend about it, if so. Even though Sharon was now older than her due to losing seven years, Lucy still saw her as a younger friend that was fun to tease occasionally.

Sharon's face turned pink. Did they really look that much like a couple? How many people in the guild thought they were dating?! "N-no... Do we look like it?" she asked, the second part of her statement in a tiny, curious voice.

Lucy giggled. "I don't know. Not really," she responded, her voice low, still. "You were looking at him a minute ago, though," she added, winking playfully at Sharon.

Sharon's face darkened in shades of pink and she glared. "Shut up!" she snapped, half-playfully. She could feel her heart beating in her chest. She wondered what Adrian would say in this sort of situation, remembering how he had simply laughed at the person behind the counter of the hotel. He was hard to read because he called everything cute and seemed to treat everyone exactly the same... Didn't that usually mean that he felt exactly the same for everyone, including her, though? She decided to point he conversation back on Lucy. "So... Do you have a boyfriend or a love interest?" she asked, her eyes narrowing this time.

Lucy frowned, blushing. "No," she responded to the first part of her question. She thought about love interest, many of the guys from the guild flashing through her head. Her mind stopped on a certain pink-haired mage and veins swelled on her forehead as her face reddened and her eyes turned white. "Why the hell would I think of him?!" she snapped at nothing, punching the water since there was nothing else to punch.

"..Lucy...?" Sharon asked, raising her hands defensively and backing away, not wanting to be the one getting punched next. She had obviously stepped on an anger mine, but why? Lucy was really pretty and she was a mage; she could probably find a guy easily, so why would it be something that angered her?

"No. I don't like anyone," Lucy said, folding her arms across her chest and shaking her head furiously. Her cheeks were still pink and there was still a swollen vein on her forehead.

"O-kay," Sharon said. She knew that it was a blatant lie, but she wasn't going to question it.

* * *

The day passed by fairly quickly, much to many of the mages' dismay, since they didn't feel as though they had finished their mission. The sun was setting and the beach was bathed in a beautiful orange light and the mages were packing up, about to part ways for the night.

They began walking and talking about small things like recent missions and recent happenings in Nadeshiko and Magnolia, respectively. However, they all froze, the small chat that was going on between them stopping, as they made their way off of the beach and onto the street, heading for the hotel that they were all staying at. Masses of people were flooding from main street and to the beach, falling over each other in the process. It was like some chaos had erupted from the town suddenly.

One woman, holding a baby in her arms, stopped in front of the mages, her eyes full of panic. "You all have the marks of a guild... Please help us!" she said in a rushed voice. "There are thieves in the shopping district... They use gun magic, I think... Please help out the town... This town isn't home to a lot of mages and I know it'll ruin your vacation, but I'm sure that the mayor will give you something nice!"

The eyes of the mages widened and then narrowed and they agreed in unison to help the woman. "Thank you so much! Best of luck!" she said, before running off, holding her infant close to her.

"Wendy, you and I should make sure that no one is injured," Sara said, her eyes narrowed. She then hesitated, "Unless you would rather fight," she said, realizing that being a part of a stronger guild had probably made Wendy more adept at fighting.

"I think that's a good idea, Sara-san," Wendy said, nodding in agreement. With that, the two younger girls ran off, Carla with them.

"Can someone take Cantrelle to the hotel?" Adrian asked. His body was already emitting a strong aura that smelled of flowers. He was ready for a battle, if it meant protecting a town.

"I wanna help, though," Cantrelle said, grabbing Adrian's arm and staring at him with big eyes. "I'll be careful."

"Gun magic is dangerous," Adrian responded, his voice loosing most of it's cheerful tone.

Cantrelle hummed lightly, not wanting to back down from her argument.

"We'll help you fight later, but you're not fighting someone with long ranged magic like that," Adrian said.

Levy grabbed Cantrelle's arm. "I'll take you back to the hotel. We'll help you train, too," she said in a sweet voice.

Cantrelle looked hurt, but she nodded and followed Levy.

"I'll catch up to you guys!" Levy called over her shoulder.

"Let's go," Sharon said, stepping in front of Yuki, Lucy and Adrian.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Done~ Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I don't know if I did that good with Lucy, honestly. A lot of the fics I read portray her differently and I tried to go by the Wiki's personality of her.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Leave a review if you want! I'll try to get at least 2 more chapters out this week, but I can't make any promises. ; n ;

**Review Responses:**

As always, thank you so much for reviewing! Lots of love from me! :) Oh, I've gotten to 250 reviews! I've made all of my goals for this story now, apart from getting it to 100 chapters!

**La Maitresse' Dame - **I'm happy that the chapter was so entertaining! Heh. I thought that Blue Pegasus would suit that team the best. :) It seemed to have worked out well. :) Kai is impossible to crack~ I think that's why he and Marionette are meant for each other~ :P Yeah, with Leo, it was supposed to be more of a taste of his own medicine, but the whole scenario when they got in their room was actually a lot darker and more tense than I had planned, but I went with it. The stuff that you are wondering will be answered in the next chapter that they appear in. :P I don't hate Ren as much as I do Ichiya, and I always assumed that Ichiya was a character that people were supposed to be annoyed by. XD I'm sorry. X_X I hate being busy...

**DraXXter - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter~ Yeah, Gwen doubts herself in pretty much every aspect. I'm really happy that you think I did well with the canon characters, especially the Trimens because they're really hard for me. They don't actually appear a lot and with Eve, his personality barely even shows in the manga, in my opinion. -_-;

**Hiragami Kotone - **I'm really happy that this chapter was so funny to you! I try with humor. The past chapter had a lot of my weaknesses in it... Love drama, comedy and characters that are hard for me to work with. X_X I shall try something like that, maybe~ I like torturing Ichiya because I don't like him. XD

**Link - **Glad you liked the chapter~ I like Hibiki and from what I've seen, I like Eve, but Ichiya gives me headaches and so does his Exceed. ; n ;

**FairyTailWolf6 - **Glad you liked the chapter~ And I think so, too, about Kai and Leo being cute when jealous. I do that sometimes when reading and it confuses my fiance. XD

**Nicky Azure - **I'm happy that you liked the chapter~ Maybe the griffin ladies will all be pestered by the Trimens at one point~ ;)

**Rin Ice Miyako - **Yep, other teams will be meeting some of the canon characters~ Happy you enjoyed the chapter~


	32. Chapter 31

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ Hope you enjoy the chapter~ Also, I know the events of the past may not exactly sync up with the Fairy Tail timeline. I've tried my best to make them sync up the best that I can. It's just too hard to completely edit some of the OCs histories. It's not something that's gonna be story changing, though, so I hope it won't bother anyone. It may not be noticeable with the way I'm writing things out, but it's noticeable to me when I look at character bios.

**POLL STUFF THAT I WANT TO BE READ, HENCE MY UNNECESSARY USE OF CAPS-LOCK:**

**Okay... So the current poll is closed and replaced by a poll about sequels. The poll is different in that you may vote for all three options, but only do so if they actually peak your interest, please! I will not be offended if an option doesn't get voted for. I will probably be closing this poll within a week, providing that I have internet access within a week. You can message me to inquire further on a sequel or even give me sequel ideas, but I will not be so fast as to accept sequel ideas. It will have to be something that I think I can make a flowing story out of and one where all or no characters will take part. I will not do sequels that focus on one or two teams and make the others background characters.**

**If no sequels are voted, that doesn't mean that I won't be doing a sequel at all; it just means that I obviously suck with ideas and have lots more planning to do. **

* * *

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

"This mission... Is bullshit," Azura said in a flat tone as they walked down to the harbor. She, Nezuko, Fame, Coyote, Monk, Nikko and Artemis were walking down to the harbor to retrieve a stolen caravan from a group of bandits that dwelt in the sewers below Lotus. Unlike the rest of the teams, they had no hotel booked for them and it wasn't going to be any sort of a vacation for them.

"Agreed," Coyote snorted, rolling his eyes. The team had waited until the other teams had left because while the other teams would probably be gone for nearly the full three weeks, enjoying their vacations, if doing nothing else. They had been informed after the other teams left that they did not have a hotel booked and would be doing the mission and returning to the guild as soon as possible.

"Unfortunately, I have to agree with that," Monk said, a slightly annoyed tone to his usually cheerful voice.

"Welp... You guys might as well face that we're just the dirty hands of the guild," Fame said, flipping his hair out of his face. "What is it that Winter and Crystal always call us? Hoodlums or something like that?"

"It's not fair!" Artemis pouted, landing on top of Azura's head, her bottom lip poking out ever so slightly.

Nikko, who was sitting on Fame's shoulder since the lightning mage had taken his hoodie off, not wanting it to get dirty in the sewers, nodded in agreement.

"So... This thing happens a lot?" Nezuko asked, tucking her arms behind her head. The team was in a sour mood and it was quite annoying. She was starting to wonder if it would have been a more intelligent decision to have tagged along with Gwen or Eira. Then again, she hated the cold and she didn't want to deal with trekking across a desert; this mission was more suited for her than the missions that the other teams had gotten.

"Yeah... Winter is always pushing us to take the missions that no one else would do, like sewer missions or missions that involve cleaning or defeating scummy bad guys that no one really wants to deal with," Monk explained.

"Yep," Azura agreed with an aspirated sigh. "We never get to use our skills to the fullest because she's always pushing us to take missions, using the excuse that no one else would want to do the missions," she said. On top of having such an annoyingly disgusting mission, she was starting to develop headaches, ever since the woman had come to get her. It felt like she was living in the past. She kept having flashbacks about the dark haired boy that she was friends with after she ran away from home... Or sometimes it would be flashbacks of the short time that she got to spend training with her father before her parents were killed. Either way, all of the memories flooding her head was making her feel sick. She wanted to talk to her team about it... She really needed to tell someone, and threw everything, the assholes that were with her were the ones that she trusted the most.

"Oh, well... Sorry for that," Nezuko said, though there wasn't much apology in her voice. She didn't know what to say. She could tell that Crystal didn't really like the team and Winter didn't hold them very high and she probably wouldn't hold them high at all if Azura wasn't her granddaughter.

"At least we can probably get done with this mission pretty quickly," Monk said, trying to have a positive outlook on the mission. He then decided to try to make some conversation, and figuring that Nezuko was the only one who was in a good enough mood to talk to him, he turned to her. "What kind of missions does your usually team do?"

"Hm... Random..." Nezuko responded with a shrug. "We usually just pick random missions that we can find," she said. "If I work with Gwen, though, I usually pick something that doesn't stand a high chance of battling since Gwen fails when it comes to battling."

"Ah," Monk nodded. "Winter does't' suggest missions for you ever?"

Nezuko shook her head. "I don't think my team is really much of a stand-out team in the guild, so we just go about our business as we please."

* * *

The group reached the harbor with no problem, just as a train was noisily coming into the station. Azura let out a groan and began to rub her temples. The headaches were really getting to her. She could feel the ground beneath her feet starting to spin. So... Loud... She began to stumble forward away from her teammates, pretty sure that they were talking to her but unable to really form a response. She felt like she was about to pass out. The last thing she heard was someone letting out a small yelp of surprise and Artemis calling her name.

_A young Azura with messy black hair that brushed her shoulders was standing near a guild hall in Magnolia. A few hired bandits were in front of them, though they were downed, magic that was in the form of little white orbs that looked like stars floating around them. The young Azura turned back to a small, dark haired boy that she was with and smiled through the blood and bruises that coated her small body. "I think I need to go... I think it would be safe for you to forget about me and continue your life in the guild," she said, blushing slightly at the young boy, who was probably six or seven years older than her, though. _

_"What are you talking about? That was awesome! Why don't you join the guild with me?" he asked, his droopy eyes sparkling with excitement. "You're a dragon slayer like the flame-brain and you can kick his ass with me!"_

_Azura's eyes didn't return the same sparkle but instead fell to the ground. She knew that the bandits were hired by her family. She knew by the fact that they had told her that they were after her, no intentions of hurting the boy that she had been traveling with for the past couple of weeks. She had activated the lacrima inside of her and managed to beat them, but she understood now that it wasn't safe for her to stay around. She didn't want to endanger anyone and she still had a lot of training to do before she could work with the lacrima. She felt weakened after using and it and it had literally hurt her body when she used it. She needed to get stronger, enough that she could fight off the goons that her family hired. _

_"But, you helped me with my mission and you're not even a member of a guild!" the boy argued, his eyes narrowing. "Besides, you're really young and you're going to be alone if you leave!" he added. _

_"I'll be okay," Azura said as she shook her head, tucking her arms behind her shoulders. "It was really nice to meet you and help you... Erm... I don't think we ever told each other our names... I'm Azura!" she said. At the same time, she began to fumble around in the small backpack that was on her back, looking for a lacrima that her father had been working on before he was killed. _

_The boy's eyes narrowed and his fist clenched together, but he let out a sigh, apparently coming to the realization that it wasn't his choice to decide what was best for the young girl. He then gave her his name, the emotionless expression returning to his face; it was an expression that he seemed to keep most of the time. _

_When he introduced himself, Azura thought that it was a fitting name, she found the lacrima in her backpack and pulled it out as it began to glow. "I'm sorry for this, but I think it's for the best..." she said as the lacrima shattered and it's magic engulfed the boy._

Azura awoke to being pulled back by Fame and Monk. She could still hear Artemis calling her name over and over again and she let out a groggy groan, rubbing her face. The flashbacks were becoming more and more vivid and it seemed like the headaches were getting a lot worse. She leaned back on her team and looked up to see very familiar eyes that were dark and droopy. Her eyes widened and she tried to back up, momentarily forgetting that she was being supported by her teammates.

"Is... She okay?" the male, dressed in a dark clothing apart from a white overcoat that nearly swept the floor asked, his eyes twitching in thoughts, his mouth in a firm line. Something seemed to be troubling him.

Just then, a man with pink hair stumbled forward, distancing himself from the train. He appeared to be sick, with his cheeks puffed out and dark blue in color. He groaned and began to fall, landing on Fame, Monk and Azura, causing them to stumble.

"Hey, watch where the hell you are going!" Fame snapped, trying to catch Azura, the man and himself as he began to fall. Realizing that it wasn't going to end successfully, he pushed Azura to Monk and Coyote, ignoring Coyote's protesting grunt and grabbed the male by his scarf, since he didn't appear to be wearing a shirt to grab. "The hell's wrong with you?!" he snapped, his body beginning to spark.

"Natsu!" a young voice called as a blue Exceed came flying towards the man.

"Gray-sama! You left Juvia!" a female voice called as a woman with blue hair, black clothing and a pink umbrella with hearts came running.

"You watch where you're going!" Natsu yelled once he had recovered, his eyes narrowing at Fame.

"You bumped into me, you idiot!" Fame growled back, retorted.

The two didn't have time to argue because Nezuko interrupted them. "Aren't you guys the bigshots from Fairy Tail?" she asked. Well, she wasn't sure about the woman but she recognized Gray, Natsu and Happy.

Natsu's scowl disappeared and he turned to Nezuko, placing his fists on his hip and puffing his chest slightly, a prideful stance. "You bet! I'm Natsu Dragneel!" he said, grinning broadly.

Gray smiled at being known and was about to introduce himself when Juvia tackled him. "Gray-sama! You haven't talked to Juvia at all today!" she complained, clinging to him.

"The hell?!" Gray growled, trying to pry him off of her. "I have no interest in talking to you!" he said, still tugging at the girl that was clinging to him.

"She lllllllllikes you," Happy purred, hovering over Gray's head with a mischievous smirk on his face.

"Shut up, cat!" Gray retorted. He would have punched Happy, but he was still in the process of freeing himself from Juvia.

Azura had finally recovered and was standing on her own now.

"Are you okay, Azu?" Artemis asked, floating over Azura.

"...Yeah," Azura answered in a small voice. Her eyes were focused on Gray. He had grown since she had seen him, though not as much as he should have. She was familiar with the Tenroujima incident, so she figured that they were around the same age now. It was really him... She finally got to meet him again, even though he didn't appear to remember her. Then again, she couldn't be sure that the memory-erase lacrima had actually worked. She had intended to completely erase the thoughts and memory of her from his mind, just so that he wouldn't try to find her or something. He hadn't addressed her, so she could only assume that it worked. Either that or he had forgotten about her due to the sheer amount of time that it had been since she had seen him.

"Natsu! They have Exceeds!" Happy pointed out.

Natsu blinked, his eyes landing on Artemis and then Nikko. "Two dragon slayers?" he asked. His eyes then fell to the guild mark that was present on Nezuko's stomach and Fame's neck; he was pretty sure he also saw the same guild mark on the side of Coyote, too. "A guild?" he asked, still confused, his eyes darting from each mage as he tried to guess which of them were dragon slayers.

"I'm not a dragon slayer," Fame said, flipping his hair. "I'm pretty sure that I can kick any dragon slayer's ass, though," he added in a smug tone. He was itching for a good fight, and he had found just the people to fight.

"Fame... You may be challengin' the wrong one there, buddy," Monk said. He would kill for the chance to fight some of the strongest members of Fairy Tail, but they were in a town, near the train station, which was a vital part of the town, and all of the mages around had very destructive magic and rather reckless personalities. It just wasn't the best idea. Silver Griffin didn't have the kinds of funds to replace a train station and neither did any of their team members.

"Piss off, Monk," Fame retorted.

"It's none of your business as to whether or not I'm a dragon slayer," Azura responded to Natsu. She didn't know how efficient the memory-erase lacrima actually was; she knew that her father had never perfected the technology behind it and she was scared if Gray saw her magic, he would remember her. Not that she would really mind that, but she wasn't sure that it would be for the best.

"We are a guild," Monk started. "We're Silver Griffin and we're the best guild around!" He couldn't resist it; he knew that it wasn't the right move, but his personality just wouldn't allow him to do otherwise.

"Are you challenging us?" Gray asked, finally free when Juvia. Ice began to surround his hands as his eyes narrowed.

"Uhm, don't you guys usually have a bigger team?" Nezuko asked the fairies. She was not going to let them fight in the middle of town. It just wasn't going to happen if she had any control over it. She did not want to have to help pay Winter to fix the town and even if she didn't participate in the fight, she would probably have to help pay.

Natsu had been glaring at the guys, his fists coated in fire when Nezuko asked about his team. "Erza made us work together before going off on an S-class mission," he explained, shooting Gray an evil look before continuing. "And Lucy took a mission without us, saying something about 'girls only'," he finished, a momentary look of disappointment in his eyes. He then turned to Gray. "Oi, did you ever look at the mission that Erza gave us, Ice Princess?" he asked.

"Go to hell, fire bastard," Gray responded. However, he went to reach for where his pocket would be if he had his jacket on, only to find himself in his underwear. "Where the hell are my clothes?!" he cried out.

All of the griffins apart from Azura stared at him in disbelief, wondering what the hell was wrong with him. However, Azura was used to it, as she had seen it many times in the past. She walked over to a pile of clothing that was behind him and handed it to him. "Here you go," she said, winking at him playfully. He was just too damn cute not to do so.

However, this caused Juvia to flip her switch. "LOVE-RIVAL NUMBER TWO!" she practically screeched, pointing accusingly at Azura, her eyes solid white with anger, steam practically coming from her head.

"Oh, god," Gray sighed, dark lines forming on his forehead as he stepped back, not even wanting to be a part of Juvia's antics.

"She llllliiiikes you, too!" Happy purred, hovering over Gray's head.

"Shut up, cat!" Gray snapped, punching Happy from the air.

"Aye..." Happy mumbled, now smashed into the ground.

"Love-rival?" Azura asked, her eyes flashing mischievously. Oh, this was going to be fun!

"This. Is. Going. To. Be. A. Long. Day," Coyote stated, his eyes twitching as his hands clenched into fists. He was ready to get this mission over with and get away from the bunch of idiots.

Azura stepped up to Gray just as he retrieved a folded piece of paper from the pocket of his jacket. She rubbed against him, placing her hands on his chest. "I'll gladly be a love rival for someone this sexy..." she purred.

Gray flustered, dropping the paper, which Natsu retrieved. He backed away just as Juvia sent out a wave of water that was aimed at Azura, but ended up catching everyone apart from Natsu, who jumped back to avoid it since he had the paper in his hands.

The griffins began shouting in protest and anger, especially when Fame began to spark, since he hadn't had time to turn off his music device. Cries could be heard from all over the city as everyone, including Fame, was shocked. The water disappeared and they all fell to the ground, Gray falling on top of Juvia and Azura falling on top of Gray. The rest of the griffins fell into a pile with Coyote on bottom and Nezuko on top. Happy, Artemis, and Nikko landed on top of her, their eyes swirls and their bodies unmoving from being shocked.

"GET OFF OF ME!" Coyote snarled, all of his tattoos glowing as he powered himself up to stand up, knocking Monk, Fame, Nezuko and the Exceeds back into the air.

"Gray is on top of Juvia!" Juvia said smugly, looking up at Azura, who had just set up, her bottom nestled into the small of Gray's back.

Azura glared at her in annoyance. "Well, I'm on top of him, so, suck it!" she snapped.

"Oooooohhh!" Artemis, who had recovered mid air, purred in a perverted tone, her eyes narrowing mischievously.

Gray only sighed, not even bothering to move. He had a feeling he would be committing suicide before the end of the day before they got away from the other guild.

Monk was looking around for his sunglasses, his pure white eyes scanning the area. He heard the sound of water in boots and his sunglasses appeared in front of his face. The only problem was that they were missing one of the lenses. He turned to the person holding them, Nezuko, with a frown on his face.

Nezuko opened her hand to show a shattered remains of the other lens. "Sorry, when I picked them up, it happened," she said, her eyes narrowed slightly.

Monk's eye twitched. "I guess everyone's just going to have to deal with seeing my eyes today! I forgot to pack a spare pair," he said, laughing and wrapping an arm around Nezuko's shoulder. "Thanks for trying, Nezuko!" he said, rubbing her shoulder.

"Ehhh..." she pulled away from him and a sweat-drop appeared on her forehead.

Fame pulled himself off of the ground, sparking still and attempted to make his hair, which was now all kinds of messy, fall back into place. "Dammit!" he hissed, when he realized that it was a failing. He glared at Juvia, who was just getting up after Azura and Gray had stood. He stomped over to her and scowled. "Watch what the hell you're doing! Some of us don't like water!" he snapped. Sure, she was pretty damn hot to him because she was mostly blue, but Fame couldn't stand water mages.

Juvia seemed to be taken aback by Fame's harsh tone and her eyes got big as she brought a hand up to her mouth. "S-sorry," she stammered.

"Don't talk to her like that!" Gray snapped, not necessarily taking up for Juvia, but not liking Fame's attitude.

"Gray-sama is taking up for Juvia!" she said, the sadness in her eyes instantly disappearing and turning to loving sparkles. She brought her hands up to each side of her cheeks and hearts began to radiate from her as she went into one of her weird fantasies.

"What's wrong with her?" Azura asked, placing a hand on her hip as she watched the quirky water mage.

"Don't ask about it," Gray responded, knowing well what was going through Juvia's head. He didn't want to think about it, though.

"Hey, Icy, this paper says that we have to go to the sewers!" Natsu said, a slightly whiny tone to his voice. "We've gotta get some cargo from some bandits!"

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Coyote huffed under his breath. He was itching to fight these guys... And if they were really on the same mission and worked together or something, there was no way the team would be able to go the entire mission without having an all out brawl. A part of him wanted to respect the city and the fact that they would never hear the end of it, but a part of him just wanted to fight.

"Oh... Looks like we're on the same mission, _Gray-sama_..." Azura said, mocking Juvia's way of referring to Gray. This was going to be fun. She was pretty sure they would end up in an all-out brawl by the end of the mission, but who cared? Winter and Makarov could deal with it if the city got destroyed.

Fame flipped his hair as best that he could and sighed.

"What the hell is up with that?" Natsu asked, having noticed the mage doing it quite a bit.

"Why the hell are you questioning it?" Fame retorted, anger glinting in his eyes.

"Hey, guys. We're on the same mission, can we just try to get this over with or something?" Nezuko asked, seeing the anger that was starting to boil in all of the mages' eyes. She did not want this to happen!

"Tch... Wishful thinking," Coyote said, cracking his knuckles, wondering whether Natsu or Gray would be more fun to fight.

"So... You all are heading into the sewers, too?" Gray asked, blushing again as he stepped away from Azura, wondering why he seemed to attract so many people to him. It was annoying.

"Yeah," Monk responded. "I'm Monk, by the way. I'm the hardest fist in Fiore that you'll ever meet!" he said, pumping his fists into the air.

"Hmph. I'm Fame," Fame said, flipping his hair. "And this is Nikko!" he added, pointing to the gray Exceed on his shoulder.

"My name is Azura," Azura said, smirking at Juvia as she leaned against Gray, who backed away again. She should probably stop, she realized. She didn't want to be written off as completely annoying. However, she saw Gray flinch when she said her name, confusion dancing across his eyes. Was the lacrima not working the way it should? "Oh, and the annoying cat that's around is Artemis!"

"I'm Coyote," Coyote introduced himself, folding his arms across his chest.

"I'm Nezuko," Nezuko introduced herself with a small wave of her hand.

"What kind of names or those?" Gray asked, his eyes twitching.

"Look who's talkin'!" Coyote barked. "Your name is a color!"

"Oh, go to hell, bastard!" Gray snapped.

"You starting something with me?" Coyote growled, cracking his his knuckles again.

"GUYS!" Nezuko finally snapped, losing it. "We seriously do not need to fight! Let's get this frickin' mission over with and part ways or something!"

"What's your problem?" Natsu asked, tucking his arms arms behind his head, his pink brows furrowed. He then grinned, almost playfully. "Scared your guild wouldn't stand a chance?" he asked in a light tone.

A vein swelled on Nezuko's forehead and she stomped her foot. "Go die or something, Salamander! We'd destroy you guys. I just have a little bit more respect for the town, you morons!"

"Fine!" Natsu snapped, the flames on his fists blazing. "We'll see who's the best guild when we get out of the sewers," he declared.

Narrowed eyes stared at each other for a moment before they began to walk, heading for the sewers.

* * *

"Why the hell would Erza make a do a mission like this?!" Natsu whined, holding his hands over his nose once they entered the sewers. Many of the mages seemed to to have the same disgusted look on her face, though Nezuko didn't seem to mind too much. The sewers were dark and made of concrete with the occasional torch hanging from the walls to light the place. It smelled of putrid water and the sounds of rats communicated echoed through the walls. Unless they wanted to cross the dark, murky sewage water, they could only fall into two lines of people and walk on the stone pathway. They were at the back of the sewers and could see a light from outside as water was dumped off into the ocean.

"Why didn't you question it, flame-brain?" Gray snapped.

"Why didn't you question it, bastard?" Natsu retorted.

"Oh... My... God..." Nezuko heaved a sigh. Between the griffin guys arguing, which they had a few times before they made it to the harbor and then having to deal with Natsu and Gray, she was going to kill herself.

"So, Nezuko, can you help us to find those bandits quickly?" Monk asked.

His question caught the attention of the fairies and they turned to look at her. "Why wouldn't she be helping us? She's part of the mission, right?" Natsu asked.

"Idiot!" Nezuko snapped, receiving grunts of agreement from Fame and Coyote. "And yeah," she responded to Monk in a softer tone. With that, she held out her arms. "My lovelies, I need you to help me track something!" she called as a golden magic circle danced on her hands.

"What the hell?!" Gray and Natsu yelled together as rats scurried from every crack in the wall, surrounding Nezuko with curiously beady eyes on her.

"Is this Nezuko's magic?" Juvia asked. She didn't seem that creeped out, but she had backed away some.

"I need you to find the bandit hideout and lead us to it? Do you know of a bandit hideout?" Nezuko asked, kneeling, wrapping her arms around her knees as she spoke to the rats, some of which crawled up her to sit on her shoulders.

The rats squeaked and chattered in unison and ran off, apart from one young brown rat that sat on Nezuko's shoulder as she stood. "They said they'd be back in a minute... All we'll have to do is follow the rats," she said, gently petting the rat on her shoulder with one finger.

"What kind of magic is that?" Gray asked, rubbing the back of his head as he watched the mass of rats run off.

"Nezuko's a top-of-the-line rat mage. She can do Take-Overs and everything," Monk announced, putting an arm around her shoulder, careful not to bump the rat that was there.

Nezuko nodded in agreement.

"What the hell is wrong with your eyes?!" Natsu asked as his own eyes landed on Monk.

Monk laughed and didn't answer him.

"So... We're just going to wait for a few minutes?" Azura asked, folding her arms across her chest. She wasn't the most patient of women.

"Yeah... They'll be back soon," Nezuko said.

"I found you, Juvia-chan!" a voice sounded from behind him as a mage with very pale blue hair and dark slanted eyes with darker lashes. He ran over to Juvia, ignoring the griffins, and grabbed the water mage's hands, his pale skin tinted with blush.

"Eh?! Lyon-sama?!" Juvia's eyes widened and she began to blush. Her eyes danced to Gray and then Azura and after a moment of thinking, her eyes turned to swirls. It was even more pandemonium!

"Lamia Scale, too?" Monk asked, seeing the white haired man.

"He always appears when Juvia and I work together!" Gray growled, a swollen vein on his forehead. "At least that's why I assume this asshole is here!"

"I will not let you still her heart, Gray!" Lyon said in a firm tone as his eyes landed on Gray. "She will be my sweet Juvia-chan one day!"

"Like hell! She's a Fairy Tail mage!" Gray retorted, his hands balling into fists.

Juvia watched the scene with her body swaying, her eyes still swirls.

"You know, you could always take me and Juvia could take Lyon!" Azura said, winking at Gray.

"Juvia... Juvia only loves Gray-sama!" Juvia declared, though her voice faltered ever so slightly. "Love-rival number two will not take Gray-sama from Juvia!"

"You wanna bet on that...?" Azura purred, her eyes shimmering deviously. "I think I could win Gray's heart way faster than you could you even think of it!" she said.

"Gray-sama will only love Juvia!" Juvia argued, glaring at Azura.

"Whatever you say, you insane woman," Azura said, rolling her eyes.

They didn't have anymore time to argue before a few rats returned and squeaked eagerly at Nezuko. "Okay, let's go," Nezuko said, following the rats as they began to run off, looking behind to make sure that Nezuko was following.

"Alright!" Natsu cheered, pumping his fists into the air.

"Aye!" Happy agreed as the group began to walk.

"So now we're working with Lamia Scale and Fairy Tail?' Monk pointed out. "Damn. Maybe we can kick their asses and show them that Silver Griffin is boss," he said in a lower voice, slowing down long enough to talk to his griffin comrades.

"Tch. Sounds like a plan," Coyote spoke under his breath.

"Hm... I think I'll take Juvia," Azura said.

"I'll take Gray," Coyote declared.

"I'll take Natsu, then," Fame said, deciding that he had nothing against Leon.

"Then I'll be fighting the Lamia boy," Monk said, grinning. "Nezuko can join me!"

"I'm not interested in picking fights with other guilds, so no thank you," Nezuko responded, folding her arms over her chest and turning her face away from Monk.

* * *

The group walked in the sewers in relative silence, following the rats that led them to a hole in the wall. One would have to duck if they were taller, which mean that Fame, Monk and Coyote would all be ducking to get into the hole.

"Alri-!" Natsu's loud voice rang through the sewers, only to have Nezuko clap a hand over his mouth.

"Are you a freakin' moron or what?" she hissed. She heard voices from behind the hole and her eyes dropped, blue lines also rolling down her forehead. "Too late," she said, releasing Natsu, who glared at her, but was prepared for a fight instead of wanting to fight with her.

The mages charged through the hole and entered in a sort of cavern that had been carved into the wall of the sewer. There was a raggedy request board, a few run down tables with bandits sitting at it and a chubby old man behind a bar counter that was made of various wooden planks that were nailed together sloppily.

"Hey, it's a buncha mages!" One of the bandits growled. His eyes then landed on Nezuko. "Hey, it's the damn woman who made dem rats throw me an' Kurt into the harbor!" the man growled. "We're gonna take you down this time!"

"Whatever," Nezuko growled. Magic circles danced below her and she transformed into her basic Rat-Take over.

"Let's do this!" Natsu cheered, charging forward. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" he called as he slammed a fiery fist into a group of bandits that was close to him.

"Ice Make: Lance!" Gray shouted, his arm glowing as he made what resembled a lance and throwing it at another group of bandits.

Lyon threw one arm forward and a pale green magic circle appeared in front of hand as he cried, "Ice Make: Eagle!" sending out a flurry of minty colored eagles that flew towards some of the bandits who hadn't been hurt.

Juvia stepped forward, her eyes dancing to Gray in hopes that he was watching and would be impressed by her magic and then back to the foes. "Water Slicer!" she yelled as she threw her arms forward, shooting out a blade of water at a small group of bandits.

"Metal Lightning!" Fame growled as he charged forward alongside Monk and Coyote.

Monk's body was glowing with his Fighter's Aura and all of the tattoos on Coyote's body were glowing.

Azura charged in behind the guys, her blades out as she simply slashed a the bandits, not even bothering to waste magic on them.

After taking the powerful magical hits from the fairies and Lyon and then being pummeled by all of the griffins, the bandits were in a nice, neat pile on the floor.

"We need the caravan," Nezuko reminded them once they all started celebrating and boasting about their strengths.

"Is this it?" Azura asked as she placed her blades back in their position on her back and walked behind the bar, pulling out a large caravan with purple flowers decorating it. It had been feebly hidden behind some old boxes.

"Yeah! This was an easy mission!" Natsu cheered.

"Aye, sir!" Happy agreed.

* * *

**Author's Note: **That's it~ Hope you enjoyed another chapter! Leave a review if you want! I'm sorry to say that this may be the last chapter until I get settled into college. I'm going to try to get one more up, but there will be no promises made. The battle with the bandits was purposely short. You will get to see some Canon vs OC action the next time I focus on this group.

**VOTE ON THE NEW POLL ON MY PROFILE!**

**Review Responses:**

As always, thank you all so much for the reviews! It means a lot to me! Love from me!

**Junior the Otaku - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter~ And Natsu and Gray are somewhere else, as demonstrated by this chapter! :P I'm glad you found the jealousy in a couple of chapters back to be funny, too~

**shadowssj12 - **I'm happy that you think I did an okay job with the canon characters! I hope you enjoyed this chapter~

**La Maitresse' Dame - **I'm happy that you think I did so. I think the main ones that I had problems with were the Twin Saber guys... They haven't appeared as much as the Fairy Tail characters and so I don't have as much to go by. :l This month isn't going to be that busy, but this week, up until next Wednesday when classes actually start is going to be hectic.

**DraXXter - **I'm happy that you think I do okay with the canon characters! And that does help with Eve! Thank you~ I could use Aquarius in it. I really haven't planned out the battle, in all honesty. :)

**Link - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter and hopefully I will be getting around to making a Yuki vs Natsu fight, though it may or may not be in the GMGs.

**Rin Ice Miyako - **Somewhat of Lamia Scale, yes~ ;) Glad you liked the chapter~

**lordsoftheroses - **I'm really happy that you liked the chapter. :)

**Nicky Azure - **I'm happy that you think I did well with some of the fairy girls. :) I have now explained where the rest of Team Natsu is~ I hope you enjoyed this chapter since it further revealed Azura's past. :)


	33. Special (I'm alive and need opinions)

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ Erm... This isn't exactly a chapter, though I'm going to include a special, so that it's not an a chapter consisting of only author's notes. Anyway... I need some opinions on some things and it will have affect some of the story, so I'd love it if you could actually read all of this.

**First. **The poll will most likely be closing on the 21st, as I do have internet and I am mostly settled into college. I don't have enough votes to do any of the sequels, and if I don't even get 20 voters at all, I may just say that 10 or 15 votes is enough for me to be convinced to do a sequel.

**Second.** Regarding me being in college, expect 1-3 chapters a week. If I can't put out at least one, there will be a "Special Only" chapter like this one with me explaining and apologizing with why I can't get a full chapter out. :)

**Third. **If you have ideas for the first event of the day, you know the random event, of the Grand Magic Games, you can send them to me. I have a long list of them, but I'd always like more to choose from. If you want spoilers, I can also give you the team for the Grand Magic Games and you can suggest battles, but meh. I'm not going to spoil unless you ask. :)

**Fourth and this is the big one so please read it, if nothing else. **Ehhhh... It's come to my attention that I didn't make it obvious by including it in the notes of the character outline that was in the prologue that there was the possibility for Canon x OC pairings, and there did turn out to be three of them. However, if the people who will stop reading-or highly dislike reading-this fic due to this outweigh those who want the Canon x OC pairings I will do away with them and insert a few more OCs, because in the end, this is story is all about making the majority of my readers happy. :D

(I would make a poll on this, but I need opinions now and I want the poll on my profile to stay there. Also, I really, really only want readers to give me opinions, and polls have the option for people who don't read to vote.)

**Fifth. I need lots of opinions on this one, too, please...** I had in mind to hint at Canon x Canon pairings, though not focus on them... I've already hinted at them a bit, but if people don't want to see any signs of them in this fic, I can do away with them, too. So... If you don't want any hints of Canon x Canon pairings, you can tell me.

**SIXTH. THIS IS THE BIGGEST ONE. **Okay... So... I've been wondering something... I've had the idea of restarting this fic and I want HONEST opinions on that... Some may say... Oh, no, but what about everything that has happened? Please note, it would not be a simple rewrite... It would be some switching of arcs and making things less chaotic. OCs would have to be resubmitted and their histories may have to be changed slightly because the guild's history would change drastically if I restarted. I would accept new OCs and the old ones, but only if they were resubmitted. I would probably move the GMGs to before the S-class exams because now that I think about it, it's more fitting. I would also have plenty of time to think and plan and things would just generally be better, but if you guys want me to continue this one, then I will definitely do so. I just need a lot of opinions. Restarting would also possibly merge the sequel idea of protecting the Silver Griffin magic and this fics sequel into one longer fic with multiple enemy guilds, more like Fairy Tail actually is. :)

**Final words... **As stated, I love to satisfy as many of my readers as possible, so please give me your opinions... I know it's a lot to write and stuff, but I would love it if you took the time to read over this A/N. :) Now, enjoy this special that is probably going to be rather short.

* * *

O ~ O ~ SPECIAL ~ O ~ O

_6 Years Earlier..._

A young Eira, dressed in a white sundress that flared around the hips and white flats, let out a sigh as she stepped though the doors of the large guild hall. She couldn't hear anything from inside and she was wondering if it was abandoned or something. She had heard about the guild through word on the street and it was the only mage's guild in Nadeshiko, so unless she wanted to travel for a while, it was her only option. She had to get stronger. She had to find him.

Inside the guild hall, there were a few tables, couches and a bar area. Most of the place was empty apart from a couple of elderly mages at one table and a group of mages that looked to be around her age or a couple of years older. They were talking and arguing, but they stopped when she walked through the door. A boy with dark hair grinned at her and walked over to her.

"Hey, my name's Leo," he said, holding out his hand, still grinning widely. "Are you here to join the guild, damsel? Maybe my good looks brought you here or something?" he asked.

"Shut up, Leo!" a boy with light blond hair yelled. He had a gray Exceed sitting on his head.

"Uhm..." Eira blushed nervously, looking around for the guild master. She saw an elderly woman approaching her and she smiled. Maybe she was the guild master.

"Hello... Don't mind them," the woman said, returning her smile with a warm smile. "My name is Winter. Welcome to Silver Griffin... Are you here to join or post a job?" she asked.

"To join..." Eira said in a soft voice. "I want to get stronger..." she added.

"Okay... I will introduce you to the members of the guild... Though the elderly men at the table are no longer members," Winter explained. "Where do you want your guild mark?" she asked.

Eira requested that the guild mark be placed on her right ankle and then followed Winter, smiling politely as she was introduced to everyone. She then sat down at the table and listened without a word as two of the guys, Fame and Stark argued. Her eyes scanned the area and landed on a girl with dark blue hair, who was in front of the request board. She had an Exceed with black wings and a cross earring flying beside her.

Leo noticed that Eira's eyes had landed on the girl and he spoke. "That's Ice... She doesn't talk, and she'll put a hurtin' on you if you even try to talk to her much," he explained.

"Why didn't Winter introduce me to her?" Eira asked.

"Ehhh... Ice doesn't like to socialize. Winter probably felt as if there was no point in it," Leo explained.

"Yeah... She joined about two weeks ago," Nezuko spoke. "We all tried to talk to her on Winter's request, but it didn't really help, though we may have gotten further with it if this moron didn't try to break out his non-existent charm," she said, glaring at Leo.

Eira smiled slightly at that and then looked back to Ice, only to see that she had already left. She wondered how she had gotten to the door without walking past their table, but then she noticed that there was a window near the request board, and it was open.

* * *

"This place smells... Like a bakery," Eira noted when she walked into the guild hall of the guild. She had been a part of the guild for a little over a month and she had enjoyed it. She had partook in her first mission, which was a simple helping people around a town mission that she had done with Nezuko, Gwen and Leo. It was fun and it paid decently.

"It does smell weird," Nezuko noted. The three females had found that they usually met up along the way to the guild hall, providing that it wasn't a day when Gwen was sick in bed.

"It smells really nice," Gwen commented, inhaling as the door closed behind them.

"Oh, yay~ Everyone's here~" a female with pink hair cheered as she sat down a platter stacked high with bright pink cupcakes on the table where the younger members of the guild usually sat. She was dressed in a long sleeved white shirt that had pink lace on the sleeves, bottom, and v-neck collar, along with hot pink pants that fell just past her knees and pink and white high-heeled shoes with lacy pink and white socks. So... A lot of pink.

"Are you new?" Gwen asked, her eyes brightening. They were getting lots of new members recently. Maybe that meant that the guild could become big soon.

"Yep~" the girl said, twirling around. "My name is Kimi Rosa~ I'm from a big performing town called Dianthus... It's really far away, though~" she said, bowing her head politely. "Annnnddd... I baked cupcakes for everyone~ Please try one, and if you don't like it, you should tell me and tell me what I should change~"

All three girls took a cupcake. Gwen introduced herself first, followed by Nezuko and then Eira.

Eira noticed that the girl looked a bit younger than the rest of the guild members and she couldn't help but to wonder just how old she was. She also noted that she seemed to have some strange mannerisms, like twirling.

"What kind of magic do you use?" Gwen asked. She had already asked Eira the same question and she had seemed quite enthused about seraphic magic, which was apparently a type of magic that she hadn't studied much before.

"I use Candy Fire~" Kimi responded with a small giggle. "It's really pretty pink flames that smell like a bakery!"

"That sounds amazing!" Gwen commented, her eyes sparkling. She had heard of flame magic and even some the radiated sweets, but she hadn't read of Kimi's magic.

"Well, welcome to the guild. Most of the people here are idiots," Nezuko said with a small laugh.

"I'm sure I'll love it~" Kimi said, taking a cupcake and eating it with another giggle.

* * *

The next day, Nezuko and Gwen walked in the guild to see all of the people that were their age apart from Ice and Eira surrounding a male that looked to be a few years older. He was dressed in a weird robe and jeans, and his eyes were covered in sunglasses.

"Nezuko-chan, it's another new member!" Gwen said, her eyes widening. It had only been a few days since Kimi had joined the guild and now they were getting even more members.

"I didn't notice," Nezuko said, following the young girl as she ran up to guy.

"Hey! You two here to basque in my glory or ask me about what's behind my sunglasses?" the man asked. "You can call me Monk!" he introduced himself.

"I'm Gwen and she's my cousin Nezuko," Gwen said, smiling up at him. Before she could ask what type of magic he used, Nezuko spoke, a vein swollen on her forehead.

"We're not that interested you," she said. She hated conceited people, but she found that a lot of the guys in the guild were conceited. She then walked up to him and pulled his sunglasses off, breaking them by curling her fist tightly around them. She heard Gwen let out a small yelp of surprise and she looked up from behind her bangs, her eyes darting from her cousin, who had her mouth covered to Monk, who was laughing, his eyes closed. When he opened them, she saw that they were solid white and her lip twitched downward. "You know, you're really weird," she said, folding her arms over her chest.

"That's mean!" Gwen said, turning to Nezuko. "What if he's blind or something?" she asked, her brows furrowed worriedly.

Monk laughed again. "I'm not blind. You two have pink eyes and one of you have purple hair and the other has brown hair," he said, trying to prove that he was not blind.

"See?" Nezuko said, sarcasm oozing from her voice. "He's just a jerk," she said, rolling her eyes and walking off.

"Um, sorry," Gwen said, bowing slightly and turning to go and catch up to Nezuko.

* * *

"We've definitely gotten a lot of new members now," Leo said, a huge grin spread across his face. About three months had passed since Monk had joined the guild and no one else had joined. It seemed as though it had settled down quite a bit at the guild. Now, though, the younger mages of the guild took up two different tables, with Gabe, Leo, Gwen, Nezuko, Eira and Kimi at one table and Fame, Stark and Monk at the other table. Ice was nowhere to be seen, as it was most of the time, but she was one of the mages that Leo was referring to.

"I hope the guild gets really big and really popular," Gwen spoke with sparkles in her eyes as she clapped her hands together under her chin.

"I'm fine with it staying about this size... I think it's already too noisy," Nezuko said, leaning back in her chair, her eyes narrowing as she watched the three guys at the other table argue about nonsense.

"I think we could use a few more people. More people would be able to try my sweets that way~" Kimi said, her eyes lighting up much like Gwen's.

"If more people come and we become more well known, there will be more missions and more missions would be more opportunities for us to get stronger," Eira pointed out. She wanted nothing more than to get stronger and find her brother.

"I think it's fun to meet lots of new people," Gabe said, a smile on his face. He was looking forward to new guildmates, providing that they didn't flirt with him like a lot of girls were starting to do. Then again, he had high hopes since none of the females who had joined the guild seemed to take any interest in him.

"I can't wait for people to join... Maybe more damsels to admire me," Leo said, flashing a flirty grin.

Nezuko rolled her eyes, Gwen blushed and covered her cheeks, Kimi blinked, too young to really understand Leo's flirtatious nature, and Eira ignored him, lost in her own little world.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sorry that it's so short... I really wanted to get this chapter up before I went to bed and I'm exhausted. The halls of my dorm building are a tenth of a mile long, and I've been walking to my fiance's dorm back to mine at least four or five times a day... Plus having to walk 30 minutes to eat and stuff... Meh... So tiring... I'm sorry guys. I may continue this special later... Maybe... Erm... I'll do review responses next chapter. Thank you all for reading and I need opinions because I honestly feel that I'm leading this off out of the readers' interest. ^^;

I have about 2k words on the next chapter written and I'll get it out before my classes start on Wednesday. :)

**Finally. You CAN message me with your opinions on everything if you don't want it to be public. I don't mind. :)**


	34. Chapter 32

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ Enjoy the chapter!

**PLEASE READ THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE! IT'S IMPORTANT!**

I had a lot of information here, but meh, it was irrelevant and spoiler-like. Anyway, there are three things that I need to cover.

OC submissions for an allied guild for Silver Griffin are OPEN! There is a form at the end of the story and please read all of it! There is also a poll on my profile to vote for the name of the allied guild. The new guild will be less than a year old, so keep that in mind. You can submit OCs even if you have submitted OCs for Silver Griffin or Banshee Tear. The guild will appear after the GMGs.

Second thing, my time is gone. What little free time I have that I'm not asleep or eating, I've been spending playing MTG with my friends. On top of that, I've had a lot of writer's block for this chapter. X_X

Lastly... What I gathered from all of the opinions... Nothing needs to change, at least for now! So... Canon x OC pairings will stay because that was split evenly on opinions, and I would like to keep them in because I simply lack the time to rework pairings and plan for the future of the story. Many people want to submit OCs, and that's why the ally guild will be introduced. If I get a lot of submissions that I like, I will make a story that focuses on that guild, too, and Silver Griffin will be side characters in it. I'm sorry if my decisions go against your opinions, but it's majority rule for this story... X_X

* * *

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

"Thank you... So much... Danny," Lillay breathed as Danny's lances finished dancing around her, redressing her in a light blue bra and light blue shorts, along with light blue sandals. The garments were infused with ice magic that Danny had absorbed from Lillay and it was meant to be a way to keep her cool without her running herself down on magic.

"You're welcome," Danny said, smiling kindly at her, a light blush on his cheeks as he looked at her. They were sort of official, meaning that while words were never really spoken, they were together a lot and they held hands and occasionally kissed or cuddled. He then turned to the three mages and two Exceeds that were behind him. "Does anyone else want me to make them clothing?" he asked.

The team, which consisted of Danny, Lillay, Eira, Stark, Emery, Terra and Izzy had just arrived in the desert after sleeping through most of the night and then reaching the sandy, sun-scorched terrain by midday, the hottest time of the day. It had been nearly a week since they started their travels and since it had taken them a week to get to the desert, they were betting that they needed to make it to Primrose and finish their mission within a week to make it back in time.

"I'm good, man," Stark said, waving off Danny's offer. He really wasn't that bad with harsh temperatures of either degree; the only thing that he didn't like was water, which made him glad that they hadn't gotten the sewers or beach mission.

"No, thank you," Terra responded. The Exceed was resting on top of Stark's head. She was much like her partner in the fact that she could tolerate just about any temperature. However, she found that she didn't want to tire herself out, so she had decided to ride on Stark's head.

"Nope," Izzy said, shaking her head politely. Lillay's Exceed was flying calmly beside her partner and didn't seem to have much of a problem with the heat.

"No, thank you," Eira responded to the question in a polite tone. She was dressed in the same clothing as usual; the only difference was that her long, wavy locks were pulled back into a ponytail that hung above her neck.

"I don't really do good with Ice magic," Emery said, also waving off Danny's offer. She had changed clothing, feeling that neither of the men that she was with would bother to try to look at her, which was the main reason why she usually wore heavier clothing. Now she was dressed in a very small, light green tube top that had dark green flower designs, including a vine that hung from the shirt and clung to her side. She also had on small, dark green shorts and brown sandals with light green straps. He hair was pulled into its usual, flowery braid.

Apart from some small talk between Danny and Stark, there hadn't really been much of a conversation between the group; Lillay's mood was soured because of the heat, Eira was naturally quiet and Emery was lost in her own little thoughts.

The flower mage was starting to wonder if it had been a bad idea to tag along with a group that consisted of couples. With Danny and Lillay, it was obvious that they were a couple, not that she didn't already know that, and with Stark and Eira, while it wasn't obvious, the two walked a lot closer than people who were merely friends would walk. She found herself walking a few steps behind the others and pondering the situation. She felt so much like a fifth wheel. Then again, who else could she have tagged along with? It would have been the same situation if she had tagged along with Gwen and there was no way that she would've tagged along with Nezuko because that would have meant dealing with the wolf-boy. She could have tagged along with Adrian and he wouldn't have minded at all, but it would have been a similar situation. Sure, they had Cantrelle with them, but in the end, she was pretty sure that Adrian had something with the girl that he was always with, and the other two that were with them were always together.

They walked in silence for some more time until Lillay finally calmed down adjusting to the heat. She looked around for Emery, noticing that the girl was walking a few steps away from everyone. She slowed down, falling into step with her. "What's wrong, Emery?" she asked, tilting her head. Over the past few months, she and the flowery mage had become really good friends... At least she liked to think so, even though they had started off on the wrong foot and Emery still liked to call her weird from time to time.

"Nothing much," Emery said, shrugging. She wasn't the type to complain, really, especially when she was definitely outnumbered when it came to her feelings on love versus most peoples' feelings on it. "Just thinkin', you know?" she said, smiling kindly.

"Oh..." Lillay said. "Do you think we're going to have to fight when we get to that other guild?" she asked, trying to make conversation with the mage.

"I don't know... I mean, they're a treasure hunters' guild and we're a mages' guild, so if they're smart, they'll know that they have a lower hand," Emery said. "Not like it matters. I think most of the people on this team have no problem fighting if it comes down to it," she said, smiling.

"Yeah. We've got two dragon slayers and two S-class mages, even though one of those is both," Lillay said, her eyes narrowing in determination.

* * *

The team ended up having to camp out for the night, but luckily, having Danny with them had its advantages. As soon as the sun fell, he declared that it was time for the group to stop and he threw his two lances into the air, causing them to make two fairly large sized tents that emitted an orange aura. He turned to his team and smiled warmly. "They are warmed tents, so we'll have to get up in the morning before the sun starts baring down. There are warmed sleeping bags in them, too, so we should have a good night's sleep. Lillay, Emery, Izzy and Eira should share a tent and Stark, Terra and I will share a tent," he said.

With that, the team members headed into their respective tents.

"This is amazingly warm," Lillay said as she crawled over to one of the three sleeping bags that were in the tent. Danny knew that she and Izzy slept close to each other, so she assumed that that was why there wasn't a sleeping bag for Izzy. The tent wasn't so hot that she was tortured, but it was cozy.

Emery had been shivering before they stopped, as she was definitely not good with cold weather, but now she felt amazing. She slipped her shoes off and curled into a sleeping bag. Instantly, sleep began to overcome her. They had been moving all day, only snacking on things that could be eaten quickly, due to the fact that there always seemed to be a light wind in the desert, making sand cover them. Now, it was good to snuggle into a warm sleeping bag.

Eira also took her place on a sleeping bag and let down her hair. The warm tent compared to the cool night of the desert made her sleepy and she curled up.

Before anyone fell asleep, Lillay turned to Eira. "Hey... You don't talk a lot, do you?" she asked in a curious voice. She didn't know Eira well and she wondered if there was something troubling the girl.

Eira looked over to Eira and blinked in confusion. "I have no interest in talking a lot," she said. Her tone was formal and polite as it was with anyone that she knew. She knew that the other girl was probably wondering if something was troubling her and when she thought about it, but in all actuality, she had partially gotten over her brother, especially since she had stopped feeling his magic around. It was odd, really.

"Oh," Lillay responded with a slight shrug of her shoulders. She was pretty sure that there were quite a few people in the guild that were like this, but she just chose to hang around people who were at least somewhat talkative.

Meanwhile, Danny, Stark and Terra settled into their own tent. The guys plopped down on the bedrolls and Terra sat down beside Stark. Danny placed his lances by his side, removing the belt that they were attached to and Stark flopped back with his head resting on his arms.

"Today was definitely kinda uneventful, right?" Stark said, letting out a small sigh of boredom. A day consisting of nothing more than walking was not something that he really enjoyed, but then again, he had to expect it. He wondered what sort of havoc they were going to reek on Leprechaun Palace if they didn't get the supplies back with ease.

"It's expected," Danny said, shrugging as he fell back onto his bedroll as well. "Traveling is a big part of any large mission like this," he added.

"Do you think that Leprechaun Palace is going to be good about returning the caravan?" Stark asked. He personally couldn't see it because it was treasure, after all, but he wanted to hear Danny's opinion on it.

"No," Danny answered, laughing lightly. "I don't think it really matters one way or another if they plan on being nice about things... We're a group of five mages, so I don't think they're going to stand much of a chance against us unless they're a huge guild," he added. He doubted that they were a bigger guild, even though their name had the word "Palace" in it, because he had never heard of them before.

"True that," Stark said. "We also have two dragon slayers, so... I guess they really don't stand much of a chance," he said, laughing loudly.

"Don't you dare be reckless if we have to fight, though," Terra said, glaring at Stark. "We are going to be in a town so we have to be careful!" she said in a harsh tone, her eyes narrowing. The Exceed wasn't worried about Danny. Stark and Danny had worked together quite a bit and she knew that the stitch mage was quite mature and considerate; Stark, on the other hand, usually let his fists control him, which could end badly.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, Terra. I'll be careful," Stark said, giving Terra a reassuring smile. He was pretty sure he didn't have much of a choice; he was also with Eira, so if he was too reckless, he would get a double-dose of scoldings.

* * *

The next day, the team of griffins ate a small breakfast together and then began to travel again. They talked some, but for the most, they just traveled. Days passed, each day pretty much the same as the previous.

Danny had been keeping count of the days as much as he could, and he knew that they needed to get to Primrose and finish their mission within the next two days, if they wanted to make it back in time with the cargo. He could feel himself starting to get antsy about the mission, but on the exterior, he seemed perfectly calm.

It was morning of that day and the griffins had been walking for about an hour when a loud voice sounded from behind them, making them stop and turn around.

"Kitty!" a girl practically screamed, bounding towards them with her bright eyes shimmering. She instantly grabbed Izzy and Terra out of the air, snuggling them into her large bosom that was covered by nothing more than a bikini top.

"Put me down!" Terra demanded, pulling her face away from the girl's chest. "What is wrong with you?!" she snapped, her eyes fiery.

"Lillay...! Help me!" Izzy whined, struggling, her small arms and feet flailing as the woman hugged her.

"Mermaid Heel?" Eira asked, her eyes in the direction that the girl had come from, watching as a girl with long, dark violet hair and white and gold clothing walked towards them, an annoyed look on her face.

"Millianna..." the girl spoke in a cool tone, her eyes opening to glare at the other woman.

The woman, Millianna, stopped, loosening her grips on the Exceeds so that they could use Aera to fly away from her, dark lines on their faces as they did so. "Oh... S-sorry, Kagura-chan," the girl said, a sweat drop appearing on her forehead. "They're just so cute!" she said, smiling brightly at the Exceeds.

"You need to apologize to them," Kagura said, her eyes darting swiftly towards the group of griffins, who were all staring at Millianna and Kagura with a mix of confusion and admiration.

Millianna turned towards the team and bowed her head. "I'm sorry," she said in a kind voice. She then stood back up and smiled brightly. "I'm Millianna, nyaa~" she introduced herself, meowing at the end of her sentence. "And this is Kagura-chan!" Her eyes then fell to Danny's forearm and danced to Lillay's stomach. "A guild?" she asked, blinking curiously.

The griffins started by introducing themselves and once they were done, Danny began to speak. "Yeah... So, we're mages from a guild called Silver Griffin. It's not really a new guild, but we're just now starting to actually get requests and missions," he explained.

"Oh, that's great, nyaaa~" Millianna said. "Mermaid Heel isn't all that old, but we've got strong members like Kagura-chan, so we do good in the games~" she explained.

Kagura merely nodded her head once, not speaking.

"What are you two doing out in the desert?" Lillay asked. She was trying her best to contain her excitement from meeting one of the strongest guilds in Fiore. Silver Griffin wasn't well-known and it was rare that they didn't really get to meet much with the bigger guilds, unless you counted Winter attending the guild conferences.

"We're on a mission to get some stuff back from a bunch of treasure hunters," Millianna explained, tucking her arms behind her back and sort of swiveling around in a bored manner.

"Wait, what?" Emery asked, a drop of sweat appearing on her forehead. "Are you heading to a town called Primrose?" she asked.

"Yeah, why?" Millianna asked, tilting her head in inquiry.

Danny turned back to Stark and Lillay. "Do you think it's possible that we could be on the same mission?" he asked. He didn't understand why that would be a possibility, since clients usually didn't do that; most of the guilds were a good train ride away... What was the point?

Before any of the griffins could respond, Millianna let out a loud meow and attacked Danny, pawing furiously at the yarn-like ropes that secured his lances.

Danny let out a scream of surprise and whirled around, throwing Millianna into Lillay in the process.

"Woah!" Lillay cried as she fell back into the sand, Millianna on top of her, dazed by Danny's movement.

"What were you doing?" Danny asked, feeling to make sure the ropes were oka and then re-securing his lances. He wasn't really one to appreciate people messing with his weapons, especially since they mementos to the girl who had taught him his magic. He hid the anger in this voice and posture, but it was present in his eyes.

Millianna jumped off of Lillay and bowed her head, sweat dropping everywhere. "I'm so sorry! I love strings, too~ Especially yarn, nyaa!" she said, smiling nervously at Danny.

Lillay climbed to her feet and sighed. If it hadn't have been a member of a well-known guild that Silver Griffin needed the respect of, she would have snapped at that moment, but she bit her tongue. "You'll love Danny's magic, then, since it revolves around sewing," she said, laughing lightly.

"We need to go," Kagura said, a small vein swollen on her forehead. She did not want to be around for Millianna to embarrass herself anymore.

"Okay~" Millianna said. "Bye-bye, Silver Griffin!" she said, waving as she started to walk away. However, the two girls stopped when the wind began to kick up horribly and sand began to whirl around them.

"What's going on?" Emery asked, closing her eyes to prevent the sand from getting in her eyes. It seemed so sudden.

"I have no idea," Lillay said, shielding her eyes with her arm and trying to reach for Izzy, only to find that the Exceed didn't appear to be around her.

All of the group found themselves either shielding or closing their eyes and soon, their feet began to leave the ground as a sand swirled around them.

Danny made himself open his eyes and reached out, grabbing Lillay by the arm and holding onto her as tightly as possible as they began to spin faster and faster. He used his other hand to reach for his lance, pulling it from his back. "Lillay! Hold onto me!" he called, tears streaming down his face now, not from emotions but the damage that his eyes were taking.

Lillay listened to him, clinging to his arm with both of her arms. "Emery, please get Izzy if you can!" she called as loudly as she could. She couldn't reach her. She had opened her eyes long enough to see that the Exceed was quite far away from her.

Emery opened one eye and shot out a root to wrap around Izzy. As soon as she pulled the Exceed back to her, wrapping an arm tightly around her, she felt herself crash into someone hard and twisted around with open eyes to see that she had crashed into Kagura, elbowing her hard with her free hand. "Dammit!" she coughed, inhaling sand when she opened her mouth.

Kagura had been preparing to use gravity change magic to make herself and all of the mages in the sand twister land on the ground, but she had been caught off guard when Emery slammed into her.

Stark grabbed Eira, holding her around the waist tightly. He turned his body to stone, hoping that it would be enough to weigh them down and make them fall, only to find that it didn't help at all. He cursed loudly and continued to cling to Eira. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do now.

Eira wiggled, wishing that Stark hadn't grabbed her. She could use her wings and possibly escape the vortex, but she couldn't do it with her back covered. She opened her mouth to talk, only to get a mouthful of sand that she began coughing up. Her eyes opened and began to water and she gave up on talking to him.

"Kitty!" Millianna called, grabbing Terra as she was thrown into her. She clung to the Exceed until she saw Danny's rope that held his lance. She reached out and grabbed the rope, holding tightly onto it as they were slung around and around.

Despite the fact that Terra really didn't care for Millianna, she clung to the mage, her eyes tightly shut with tears in the corner of them. The vortex of sand seemed to be rotating faster and faster; it was terrifying.

* * *

Once the speed of the of the sand tomb they were caught in sped up, Stark passed out. He awoke to Eira shaking him lightly, mumbling his name in a worried tone. He groaned and opened his eyes to see her bright eyes shimmering with worry. He then looked around, not seeing Terra or any of the mages that they had been traveling with. "What... Where... Is everyone...?" he asked in a hoarse voice. When he tried to breathe. he found himself coughing up sand. "Oww..." he huffed.

"I... I do not know..." Eira answered, relief flashing across her face before she sat back. They were still in the desert, though Eira was unsure as to how far they had been thrown by the tornado.

Stark sat up and let out a sigh, rubbing his eyes. "That was pretty awful," he admitted, struggling to his feet and then offering a hand down to Eira. His head was still spinning from being tossed around so much and acquiring motion-sickness, but he was determined not to let it get to him.

Eira took his hand and once she was standing, she scanned the area, curiously wondering what was going on. "What do you suggest that we do?" she asked, her eyes finally landing on Stark.

"I think it would be best to just start traveling and hope that we meet up with the others or find Leprechaun Palace," he said, running his hands through his hair and frowning when sand showered down in front of his face. "I really hope that Terra is okay, too..." he added, his eyes falling to the ground. He had caught of a glimpse of Millianna grabbing her, so he hoped that she was in good hands.

"Do you really think that we'll end up going the right way if we just start walking?" Eira asked, placing a hand on her hip. She hated that she was doubting Stark, but the only thing that they could see was sand, so who could say that they were going the right way?

"No," Stark said, shrugging. "But do you have a better plan?" he asked. Then something clicked in his head. On missions, he and Terra would fly high into the sky to help find their way. Eira could fly, so maybe they could do the same thing.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Eira asked when Stark began to smirk after losing himself in his thoughts.

"Eira, do you have enough magic to make your angel wings so we can fly?" he asked.

Eira's eyes turned to dots for a moment. She wasn't sure that she was going to be able to carry Stark and fly at the same time. The thought unnerved her. "Stark, I do not think that I would be able to carry you for very long, so I do not think that your plan will work as well as you intend for it to..." she said, her brows furrowing in annoyance as she spoke.

"C'mon," Stark said, a smirk still on his face. "It would be the best way to find where we need to go and we can takes breaks whenever you get too tired to fly," he said.

"Fine," Eira said. She didn't feel like arguing with him and would quite prefer to get out the desert as soon as possible. Bright blue magic circles appeared around her and feathery white wings appeared on her back. She flapped them, lifting herself from the ground before she grabbed Stark, placing her hands on his sides and lifting him up. He was heavy, to say the least, but she was able to lift him from the ground. He was warm and his muscles flexed in an attempt to help her as much as she could. The seraphic mage found herself blushing from the closeness. This caused her to become annoyed with herself and she huffed.

"Are you going to be able to handle this?" Stark asked once they were in the air and he heard Eira huffing. He could tell by how hard that she was clinging to him that it wasn't easy for her to carry him.

"Yes," Eira responded a bit too quickly, confusing the stone dragon slayer.

* * *

Emery hadn't passed out as they were thrown off into the distance. However, all of the spinning and being tossed around made her sick, so her body was limp as she flew threw the air. She let out a light groan, opening her eyes when she didn't feel the sand around her anymore. She saw the ground and upon looking around, she also saw Kagura near her. Narrowing her eyes, she shot her arm forward, roots shooting out from it, and grabbed Kagura. She had Izzy in her other arm, but when she noticed how hard the Exceed was clinging to her, she shot her arm forward and buried a root into the ground, twisting so that she and Kagura landed on their feet. She let go of Kagura and began to look around, not seeing anyone else.

"It looks like we are separated from your guild and Millianna," Kagura said in a flat voice, stepping away from Emery and dusting herself off. Her eyes scanned the area and then closed, a vein swelling on her forehead.

"Thank you, Emery," Izzy said, climbing up the nature mage's bosom and sitting on her shoulder. Her fur was messier than normal and her eyes were tear-stained, but she seemed to be okay now.

"Yeah," Emery said, still looking around the desert in hopes that no one had traveled far. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case and there was no one around. Only lots and lots of sand. She turned to Kagura and her eyes narrowed. "You know, there is no reason to throw a fit. We'll be fine," she said, placing her hands on her hips and huffing.

Kagura opened her eyes long enough to glare at Emery. "It will be best for us to find the treasure hunters and complete the mission. The others will meet us," she said, her voice still void of emotion, as it normally was. With that, she placed a hand on her sword as if to make sure that it was still there and then began to walk, not seeming to care if Emery was following her.

"Oh, god," Emery mumbled under her breath. She didn't really like Kagura. She knew that it was more of just trying to be cool and hide emotions, but there was no reason for it; at least not in Emery's opinion. Oh, well... At least she wasn't surrounded by couples anymore.

* * *

Danny refused to let himself get sick, despite the fact that his head matched the spinning of the vortex. When they were tossed by the mass of wind, he clung to Lillay with one hand and then shot out his other arm to wrap it around Millianna, clinging to her as well. He braced himself for impact and gasped as he crashed into sand and then slid back until he stopped. His eyes fell to the girls that he was holding, seeing that Millianna had her face buried into Terra's fur and seeing that Lillay appeared to be motion-sick. "Are-are you two okay?" he asked, gently letting them go so that he could wipe at his eyes, which were bloodshot from the amount of sand had gotten into them.

Millianna's eyes opened and she smiled. "I'm okay, nyaa~" she said, rolling over so that she was sitting on her knees near Danny, Terra still in her arms. "I hope the kitty is okay," she said, her eyes falling to Terra.

"I'm okay," Terra said, her eyes opening as well. "I would love for you to let go of me, though," she added, her eyes beginning to narrow in anger. She had held onto Millianna when they were trapped in the sand tomb, but now she really didn't want to be snuggled by the cat mage.

"I'm... I'm okay..." Lillay mumbled, though her face was tinted blue from motion-sickness and she was lying on the ground, her eyes swirling.

Danny laughed lightly at her and stood, picking her up. "Do you think you can walk?" he asked.

Lillay groaned and stood for a moment before overcoming her sickness. "Yeah," she answered in a slightly hoarse voice. She still didn't feel completely better, but she could walk if that was what they needed to do. Besides, they were working with a well-known guild, so she had to be tough to impress Millianna.

"Lemme go!" Terra cried, pulling the griffins from their thoughts. She was wiggling and trying to get out of Millianna's arms.

"But, kitty~" Millianna whined, obviously not wanting to let her go.

"Erm..." Danny's eyes turned to dots and then he turned to Millianna, removing his lance and making the string dangle in front of the cat lady's face in attempt to distract her.

Millianna's eyes widened with sparkles in them and she let go of Terra and jumped at the string, letting out a noise that resembled a cat meowing. She pawed at the string repeatedly, not even realizing when Terra flew away from her.

"Thank you," Terra said, folding her arms over her chest as she hovered over Lillay's head. She figured that Millianna would stick close to Danny because of his strings, so if she stayed near Lillay, she would be safe.

"I think we need to get going and try to find the others," Danny said, recalling his lance, frowning at the disappointment that appeared in Millianna's eyes. "If we head for Primrose, then we'll probably run into them on the way, providing that they're not lost," he added. He was worried, to say the least, but he had faith in his guildmates and he was sure that Kagura was strong, too. He just hoped that no one ended up alone because he felt as if it would be harder to travel.

"Okay~" Millianna said, smiling brightly. "Maybe you can tell me more about you guild while we walk! Do they have more cats?" she asked, her eyes landing on Terra.

"I think we have... Five Exceeds?" Lillay responded, trying to remember. The Exceeds tended to cling to their partners and she didn't work with most of them, so she didn't really know the Exceeds.

"I wanna meet all of them~ I bet they're super-cute, nyaa~" Millianna said, giggling cheerfully.

Danny's eye twitched at the thought of what would happen if Millianna encountered Ice and Cross. He hoped that the day would never happen.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Leave a review if you'd like! See you guys around~ Due to lack of time, I'm going to do review responses next chapter and if you have any questions, you can message me. :) Sorry that this chapter is so short. As stated, I had terrible writer's block for this chapter. X_X

* * *

**OC FORM FOR ALLY GUILD! PLEASE READ THE NOTES IN PARENTHESIS AND REMOVE THEM BEFORE GIVING ME THE FORM!**

**Due to my lack of time, I will ignore OCs that ignore my notes because I do NOT have time to fix up histories like I did when I accepted Silver Griffin OCs.. **

**Name: **((First and Last))

**Age: **((5-70 ; Those that are in the 14-27 age range are preferred, though.))

**Gender: **((Male or Female))

**Guild Affiliation: **((Just put "New Guild" if they are for the ally guild. If they are for Banshee Tear, put that. They CANNOT be part of Silver Griffin. Sorry. X_X))

**Magic: **((NO SLAYER MAGIC. God/Dragon/Etc, I don't care, none of that. Sorry, but Silver Griffin has too many and I don't want any more slayer magic. Also, I highly prefer no more than two or so types of magic unless you do a good job explaining how they got their magic. They don't have to have magic. They can just use magic weapons or something.))

**Weapons/Equipment: **((They don't have to have any weapons or equipment, but they have to have something to fight with, as in they can't be void of magic or weapons, unless they're a waiter or waitress, or they are an apprentice to someone.))

**Appearance: **((Please include hair color/style/length and eye color/shape, normal clothing, formal clothing, swimwear and sleepwear, guild mark location and color, height, body build, and anything else that is prominent, such as scars, birthmarks, tattoos, piercings or other things.))

**Personality: **((The more descriptive you are, the better I will portray them. I would love for you to include how they act around acquaintances, friends, crushes, enemies and others. You can also include mannerisms and favorites. Whatever you want.))

**Type of Person They Would Like: **((They cannot like canon characters. Most of the canons have something planned for them, anyway. They can start out having a crush on a griffin, but it won't go anywhere; it could make for love triangle/square scenarios, but they would end up falling for someone else. Their romance won't be focused on until I start up their own fic, though.

Something I never included, but I don't mind if they aren't straight to be honest. ^^; However, that may not be portrayed too much in this fic since I never included warnings for possibilities of yaoi/yuri. ))

**History: **((Okay... Lot to read for this one. They CAN have pasts with canon characters as long as it's believable and it doesn't involve Gray, Cana or Lucy. Also, there was a SEVEN YEAR TIME SKIP where some of the fairies didn't age in the Tenroujima arc! If they knew a Fairy Tail character that was frozen in time when they were younger, they would now be 7 years older than that character unless they were younger than them in the past! Got it? Example would be if I made a character that was friends with Levy when they were both seven, that character would now be 25-26 years old while Levy is 17-18 years old. Also, they can have pasts with my griffin characters, meaning Fame, Adrian, Gwen, Nezuko, Emery or Kimi, but you'd have to work with me to make their pasts sync up. I don't know about the other griffins and I have no say so in that matter.

Regarding their histories, I would like to know as much as you know about them, including where they got their magic and the current state of their family. If you want a family member to appear, like a parent stopping by the guild or something, please describe them, too. :)

Finally, please keep in mind that the guild will be less than a year old... I'm not actually sure how old the guild will be or if it will even be fully started when the OCs are introduced, but either way... You get the idea. They can't be 20 and joined the guild 10 years ago because the guild didn't exist.))

**Other: **((Anything else I forgot?))


	35. Chapter 33

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ Thank you all so much for OC submissions!

**Regarding OC Submissions: PLEASE READ:**

Guys, I really need a few more OCs to complete pairings. D:

**2 Males:** I need them to be louder characters who are at least somewhat kind.

**3 Females: **I need two quieter, battle-ready females and a sorta cheery female.

I can make the five characters that are needed, but I have already made so many characters and I don't want the guild to be mostly comprised of my own characters.

Finally, due to the number of guild members, not all of the characters will be a part of the guild when it first starts in this fic and some won't be introduced until the beginning of the new fic. I will probably be introducing a great number of them in this fic, though, and after the battle with Banshee Tear, I will be starting the new fic, though this fic will not be complete because there is another series of arcs after the battle with Banshee Tear. :)

Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter and remember to vote on my poll. It's gonna be the name for the allied guild. :) You know... It's something that really matters, I think, especially if you've submitted an OC! I will reveal that Crimson Chimera is leading, though not by much. I'm not gonna vote on it because it doesn't really matter too much to me!

* * *

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

"Alright! Let's do this!" Sting cheered as he emerged from the small bathroom that he had shared with Rogue and Gabe the previous night. His pale blond hair was falling over slightly due to being damp from recently showering. He was dressed in his normal get-up and ready to begin the day with griffins versus tigers.

"Sting-kun is gonna win!" Lector cheered. The maroon colored Exceed was sitting on the bed that he had shared with the white dragon slayer. He seemed to be just as pumped as his partner.

"Rogue, too!" Frosch cheered from across the small hotel room where he was sitting on Rogue's bed.

The shadow dragon slayer was already dressed and peering out the window, lost in his thoughts. He didn't appear to be quite as enthusiastic as the rest of his guild mates that had accompanied him on the mission.

Gabe let a small laugh. Excluding Rogue, the other guild seemed to be quite pepped up. He was as well, of course, as was obvious by his pacing around the room. He had asked Rogue if he was annoying him, received an indifferent grunt from the man, and continued to pace.

At that moment, a team of griffins that consisted of Hikari, Mistere, Ice, Cross, Gabe and Ikaros and the shadow and white dragon slayers of Saber Tooth were in the mountains, specifically a small town known as Snowbell, assigned to a mission that required them to mine for jewels around the mountains. Due to the competitive nature of some of the mages, they were going to have a competition to see which of the guilds could gather more jewels by the end of the day. Gabe didn't feel as though it was completely fair since Saber Tooth was outnumbered, but Sting was confident that they were still going to win the battle.

"We're all gonna be giving it our all," Gabe said, stopping long enough to flash Sting his own confident grin. He already had in mind to copy Stark's magic and bash through all of the rocks in attempt to find the jewels. He wondered if Ikaros would be able to just use her magic to just make the jewels, but she doubted that the girl would do that because there would be the chance of the client being able to tell that they weren't authentic, though he also doubted that would even happen considering how skilled Ikaros was.

"I wouldn't want anything else!" Sting said. "I wonder if you griffins are really going to be any competition, though," he said in light voice of mockery.

Gabe only smirked in response.

* * *

"Do you think this place has anywhere good to eat?" Ikaros asked as she plopped down on her bed. She had exited the shower and now the girls were just waiting on Hikari to freshen up before they met up with the guys to start their competition. Ikaros wasn't much of the competitive type, but it sounded like a fun game and then they could go somewhere and eat afterwards.

"Well, we did pass one cafe... I think," Mistere said, recalling the day before when they had arrived in Snowbell Town. The event of fighting with Saber Tooth after arriving had made the rest of the day seem kind of bland, even though it had been quite enjoyable.

"I think we should try to eat there when we get done with this competition!" Ikaros said, her face lighting up. She thought it would be nice to try something new and she didn't know how often she would come to Snowbell, so she could wanted to try it while they were around. The small girl's eyes then went to Ice, who was looking out the window, her back turned to the other girls in the room. "Do you like to eat, Ice?" she asked. She wasn't sure how to make conversations with someone like Ice; she preferred to be around more cheery people. However, she knew that Winter wanted them to make friends with the antisocial mage and she felt that food was an easy topic.

Ice didn't turn to Ikaros as she spoke. "Doesn't every person like to eat?" she asked in a dry voice.

"Yeah, but everyone has different foods that they like more than others," Ikaros said, not seeming to be fazed by Ice's tone.

Mistere decided that maybe it was best for her to try to help with Ikaros's attempt at befriending Ice, so she pitched in. "From what I understand, dragon slayers like to eat a lot to keep their magic up, though... So surely you've got to have a lot of things that you enjoy eating..." She had learned from Hikari that dragon slayers loved to eat a lot, most of the time. Maybe that was another reason they made such a good team with Kimi, who loved to cook more than anything else. She winced at the thought of her teammate, whose fate she wouldn't know until she made it back to the guild after her mission.

Ikaros blinked, her mind going to Ice's name and how it was an object. "Maybe you like cold foods?" she asked, her eyes lighting up since she felt as though she had come to a valid conclusion.

Ice rolled her eyes and let out a small snort. She knew that the girls talking to her was just a feeble attempt at becoming her friend. She didn't need friends. She wouldn't even be in the guild if she had been given an option.

The room was awkwardly silent for a moment after that, until Hikari came out of the room, a smile on her face. "Okay! I'm ready!" she said, throwing her arms into the air cheerfully.

"Yay!" Ikaros brightened up again after pouting for a moment. She stood and threw her backpack over her shoulder, as did Ice and Mistere.

Cross landed on Ice's backpack, her eyes on the other three girls in the room. "Do not expect Ice to work with you all. We will be going on our own path and we will meet back up with the rest of the team at the designated time," she said.

Ice nodded in agreement, little emotion in her eyes.

A moment of awkward silence was broken by Hikari, who smiled kindly. "Okay! We're still a team, though," she said. She was looking forward to the competition against Saber Tooth too much to let anyone's attitude bring her down at that moment.

* * *

The group of mages met outside of the inn where the old broom lady was watching them with narrowed eyes. They greeted each other and then Sting was the first one to speak.

"Alright! I hope you griffins can actually put up a fight today!" he said, a boyish grin on his face, his blue eyes shining with determination.

"We will!" Hikari returned his grin with a smirk, one hand on her hip. While Sting did annoy her, she could appreciate his competitive nature; maybe there should be more of that around the guild or something.

With that, they split off in different directions, Sting, Rogue and their Exceeds going one way, Ice and Cross going in a different direction and Mistere and Hikari splitting from Gabe and Ikaros.

* * *

Once they were away from the town, dirt began to rotate around Hikari's fist until it formed a a spinning drill around each fist. She grinned and began to bash away at rocks, able to shatter them with little to no problem. Her eyes watched for anything that may be sparkly or colorful, and in the rare occasion that she found an unrefined gem, she would grab it and chunk it into the pouch that was fastened to her side, the same kind of pouch that everyone had to collect the gems in.

Mistere summoned her staff and began to crush the rocks and mine for the gems using physical strength, occasionally lifting rocks with her wisps and throwing them to the ground in order to shatter them. It was efficient, though not nearly as efficient as Hikari's methods; then again, it wasn't like that bothered Mistere, since her magic wasn't meant for mining by any means.

For them, the day went by without them slowing down apart from taking tiny breaks to grab a snack or something to keep their magic up. As the sun made it's way across the sky, Hikari turned to Mistere, wiping the sweat from her brow. "How do you think we're doing?" she asked, a grin on her face. She had filled up the pouch and resulted in removing the spare from her backpack, though she had almost filled it up as well.

Mistere stopped and stretched, stretching the blue and white staff over her head as she did so, and then let out a small yawn. Her body was sore from so much moving, but she wanted to continue to work as long as there was light. "I think we're doing great," she answered in a cheerful voice. She hadn't succeeded in filling up one of her pouches, but she figured that she would at least fill up one by the end of the day. She had high hopes that if any of the other griffins were doing as good as they were, that they would beat Saber Tooth with no problem. Then again, it was an unfair match, wasn't it?

"Let's keep working!" Hikari said, the dirt kicking up around her fists again as determination glinted across her eyes. "You know they'll remember us if we beat them today!" That was one of her motives, of course, as it was with most of the griffins. Getting recognized by a larger guild could mean a lot to them.

Mistere nodded in agreement and after stretching a final time, got back to work. She definitely wasn't that accustomed to this kind of work, but she was giving it her all.

* * *

As soon as they found a spot to mine at, Ikaros used her change magic to make a giant hammer in one hand and a pickax in the other. She turned to Gabe to see what he planned on doing.

Gabe had decided on copying Stark's stone dragon slayer magic and as such, both of his fists were coated with a thick stone that would easily break through stone. When he noticed that Ikaros was looking at him with curious eyes, he let out a nervous laugh. "Erm, do you think that this will work well?" he asked, holding up one of his hands.

Ikaros wondered why his laugh sounded different than usual. He did that a lot when she looked at him for some reason. Maybe that was something else to ask Kimi one day. She zoned out with these thoughts and didn't realize that she hadn't responded to Gabe until he dropped his hand. She looked up with her eyes widened and said, "Oh! I think it would work great!" in a cheery voice.

Gabe arched a brow. "What's on your mind?" he asked in small tone. Sure, they had started trying to be a couple, but Ikaros still didn't really act much different and he was fine with this; still, he wanted to try to put in even more effort towards her, like letting her vent to him or something if needed. Then again, he couldn't even imagine what Ikaros had to vent about.

"Why do you laugh really weird and blush and stuff when I look at you sometimes?" she asked, her eyes blinking curiously. Her mind was still on this and her eyes widened when she came to a conclusion. "Do I have a secondary magic that makes people like that?" she asked, more to herself than Gabe. She wasn't sure if that would be the case, though... It didn't happen to anyone other than Gabe... Then again, she was rarely ever around guys, so maybe it was only in affect for guys. She hadn't really spoken to Sting or Rogue, either.

A sweat-drop appeared on Gabe's forehead and his eyes turned white for a second. "No... Ikaros..." he said, laughing lightly again. "I just get a little nervous around you because... I... Well... Like you..." he said, his voice steadily getting softer as he spoke.

"Oh," Ikaros said, smiling at him. She felt the fuzzy feeling in her chest again and her cheeks burned a bit. It was such a weird combination of feelings; she liked how Gabe was the only one that made her feel that way.

With that, they began to bash through rocks as well, both of them doing so effortlessly. Gabe found himself looking at Ikaros from time to time, wondering how so much strength could be packed into such a tiny body, but he accepted that that was just how she was.

* * *

Ice decided to charge her scythe with pure magic power and use it to cut through the rocks and collect the gems inside of them. It wasn't really tedious work and she enjoyed the quietness of her surroundings. It was peaceful and it relieved her from the stress that was building up from being around so many people all of the time. It took everything she had to not snap at Winter for making her be social.

"Do you think that Silver Griffin with win this?" Cross asked. The Exceed had been flying over Ice and watching her progress. She was also enjoying the silence and the lack of the stress that Ice had been outputting since the mission had began.

"Of course," Ice responded. She didn't doubt herself and though she would never admit it, she didn't really doubt her guild. "There is no doubt about it... The Sabers are unintelligent for not taking up the offer to have more team members."

"Hm," Cross nodded in agreement. "I am quite surprised that you have faith in your guild," she spoke honestly. "Are you perhaps becoming more attached to your guild?" she asked in a curious voice.

Ice turned and glared at her, the corner of her lip jerking down in a small scowl. "No," she answered. "I feel nothing for them, but I cannot say that they are weak, either..." She shifted uncomfortably before her temper boiled and swung her scythe and crushed a giant boulder, a full scowl now on her face. She was not getting closer to any of them! She would never get close to any of them.

"Ice...?" Cross said in a small voice, dodging a bunch of flying rocks that came from the boulder that Ice had broken. She had stepped on a mental mine, apparently. The thing was that she had asked the question countless times over the years and hadn't gotten this kind of response before. Maybe she was starting to feel something for her guild. For some reason, this made Cross happy.

* * *

As night fell, the griffins met back up with the tigers. The sun had dipped far behind the mountain and all of them were covered in dust and dirt. They were all sweaty and they were all worn.

"Heh, I doubt you beat us!" Sting said, grinning as he threw two and half pouches of gems out in front of him, Rogue doing the same with about the same amount of gems.

"Sting-kun is the best!" Lector reminded them. He was flying beside Sting with a smug look on his face.

"For thinks so, too~" Frosch reminded them gleefully.

"Hah," Hikari scoffed, throwing down her own three bags of gems and placing her hands on her hips. "I don't think you even came close!" she said. She hated the smug looks on Lector's and Sting's face. She had faith that between herself and her guild mates, she was positive that they had beaten them.

Mistere threw out her own bag of gems and Ice threw out three.

Ikaros blinked before throwing down two and half bags and Gabe did the same.

"I think it's fair to say that we won," Gabe said with a sweat-drop on his forehead. They had easily beaten them out, but he had kind of expected so much. That was why he had suggested a griffin or two working with them.

Hikari laughed. "See...? Just because we're unheard of doesn't mean that we're not the most awesome guild out there!" she said. "Don't underestimate Silver Griffin!"

Sting's eyes widened and then his mouth opened slightly. "Are you mocking us?!" he snapped, when he heard Hikari laughing.

Hikari stopped laughing and shrugged. "No, not really. I just wanted to prove that we're an awesome guild, and this is only a few of our awesome members!" she said, motioning to the griffins that were standing with her.

"I do not think it is right to underestimate the guild," Cross said, smirking ever-so-sightly when she saw Lector's face fall.

"I think it would have been better if you would have let us split into two nearly even groups," Gabe said.

"Hmph," Sting smirked at them, his moment of annoyance quickly fading away. "That's fine! We better see Silver Griffin in the games, right, Rogue?" he said, turning to look at his partner.

"Hm," Rogue nodded his head, though he still held a bored expression on his face.

"We'll beat you down at the games!" Sting said, his eyes now narrowed in determination.

"I'd like to see any of the 'top-dog' guilds try to stand up to us," Hikari boasted.

"Isn't that a little much?" Mistere asked, her nervous expression matching Gabe's, as they both smiled with sweat-drops on their foreheads.

"I don't think so," Hikari said, shrugging. She honestly believed that her guild could take down almost any of the members of the bigger guilds, as long as it wasn't a terribly unfair match-up.

Ikaros stepped forward and smiled and for a second, Gabe was thrown off because she thought she was going to taunt the white and shadow mages and that seemed so unlike her. However, the words that came out of her mouth were quite like her. "You know, I think we all did great today! We should go eat!" she said.

"I'm up for that!" Sting said, grinning.

And so, with that, all of the mages headed for the small cafe in the tiny town.

* * *

Hikari awoke early that morning with a small gasp that caused all of the girls in the room to stir, though none of them woke up. She put a sweaty palm over her mouth and focused on her breathing, trying to calm it. Her eyes closed to fight the tears that were flooding to them and she let out a small groan as the salty drops began to stream down her face. There was only one way to calm herself; she knew it had gotten to that point. So, still dressed in her sundress, she left the room through the window, not bothering to find her shoes for fear that she would wake someone up in the process. She really just needed a bit of time alone now.

She traveled up the mountain, her eyes focused on the sky that was beginning to turn an array of light blues and oranges as the sun began to rise. It calmed her to an extent, but she could still feel the tears fighting their way to her eyes. She walked up the mountain until she saw the small gravestone made of sticks with a small pink dress hanging from it and a heart necklace, along with some flowers. She walked over to it, the tears now flowing freely.

Once she was in front of the stone, she plopped down and let out a strained sigh. "I'm sorry I haven't visited in a while, Flora-chan," she said in a soft voice. She had visited the grave when they were training for the S-class exams because while she considered the mountains to be her home, being in them too long brought back nightmares. The night she had escaped from her father's clutches... The night her best friend had given her life... The reason she hated the question of why she didn't have an Exceed like the rest of the dragon slayers.

"I think the guild is getting stronger, y'know?" she said, her eyes on the sky, watching as the stars faded away from sight. "You know... I love the guild, even though I haven't been a part of it for too long... I... I think you would have loved it, too," she said, speaking to the grave. "There are five Exceeds... You used to always wonder if you would meet other Exceeds, when we read about Fairy Tail's adventure to Edolas, right?" She paused for a moment. "Well... I guess that's about all I have to tell you... Well... We met the twin dragons of Saber Tooth... I should probably tell you about them... There's not much to say about Rogue... He's so quiet, but Sting-"

She stopped talking when she heard something and the familiar smell of a dragon slayer entered her nose. She bit her lip and looked around.

"What were you about to say about me? What are you doing here?" Sting asked, approaching her with curious eyes. Lector wasn't with him at the moment.

Hikari glared at him. "Nothing," she said. She didn't want to deal with people right now.

He stopped in front of the grave. "That's why you don't have an Exceed?" he asked in a softer voice, his eyes on the small dress that was hanging from the grave. "I-I'm sorry," he said, folding his arms across his chest.

"It's fine. Just leave," Hikari said in a low tone. She didn't need his sympathy. She wanted to be alone.

Sting turned to her. "So, what were you about to say about me?" he asked in a lighter tone, trying to lighten the mood and cheer Hikari up.

"Nothing!" Hikari snapped, standing. So much for her alone-time. He apparently wasn't leaving. "I'm going back to the inn," she said, starting to walk back. She just didn't have it in her to deal with people at that moment.

Sting caught up to her. "Y'know, sparring always makes me feel better! You're a dragon slayer, surely you like to fight, too?" he asked, smiling cheerfully.

She stopped and for a second, she was prepared to snap at him, but then his words registered. "Fine. Sure, let's fight!" Sparring was something that would make her feel better. It was the easiest way for most offensive mages to let off steam, after all.

Sting grinned and with that, they walked for a bit before they put distance in between themselves and began to spar. Sting started by coating his fist with light and charging at Hikari, who dodged.

"Earth Dragon's Rugged Fist!" Hikari called, twisting around Sting and coating her fist with dirt as she attempted to punch him in the back.

Sting nimbly ducked and kicked her in the stomach, not even bothering to put his white dragon slayer magic into the attack.

Hikari stumbled back, but caught herself by pulling out her scythe and stabbing it into the ground. She then used the scythe to boost herself up and throw her feet at Sting's face. When Sting ducked, just as she had suspected him to, she elbow-dropped him, crushing him into the ground. She then used her scythe that was still stuck in the ground to pulled herself off of him. She surrounded her fist in dirt, making her signature drills, but waited for him to recover to attack.

Sting rolled back and launched himself off of the ground with powerful leg muscles, swinging his fists extremely fast, smirking when Hikari proved that she could dodge a few times before he landed at hit on her shoulder. He followed up with a kick in the side.

However, Sting did not prepare for the girl's quick recovery and he ended up getting hit in the side with her scythe.

That was the end of their battle, as Lector's voice sounded through the air. "Sting-kun!" he called out.

Hikari jumped back, replacing her scythe on her back and looking towards the sound of the voice to see all of the mages whom she had been working with walking towards them.

"What were you two doing?" Mistere asked once they had caught up to him. She was smart enough to deduce that they had been sparring, but why? She was pretty sure she recalled Hikari waking up just before sunrise and found herself wondering why the girl had left the hotel so early.

"Just releasing some steam," Hikari said, smirking. "I won that, by the way!" she said, a triumphant look on her face.

"Tch, whatever," Sting said, rolling his eyes. There was a smile on his face, though.

"We need to head back to Nadeshiko," Mistere said. "I think these guys will be traveling with us, since they have to be cashing in the same mission," she added.

"Alright, let's go," Hikari said. However, she tossed her head over her shoulder and looked back towards the grave, silently saying goodbye to Flora, her deceased Exceed.

* * *

_*With Leo, Kai, Marionette and Gwen*_

Marionette and Gwen had made themselves comfortable in the room, both settled into the beds and reading, Marionette with a box of chocolate that she had brought with her beside her. Occasionally, she would pop one in her mouth. The two girls, along with Kai and Leo, were on a mission and had traveled to a town known as Snapdragon, traveling alongside the Trimens of Blue Pegasus, who were ironically on the same mission. Now, the girls were in the hotel room that they had to share with Leo and Kai, but the two guys had left the inn without even visiting the room and the girls were eagerly awaiting their return. Well, in Gwen's case... Marionette was perfectly fine with a break from them.

Gwen was nearly lost in her book when the door opened and both of the guys walked in. Instantly, Marionette's eyes darkened and her mouth twitched into a frown and Gwen blinked, letting out a small "Heh?" in surprise.

Both of the guys were dressed in fancier clothing, Kai dressed in a tuxedo and Leo dressed in a green button-up shirt and khakis. Leo's hair appeared to be gelled, though it was obviously fighting it and sticking up in random places already. Kai's hair had been smoothed down just a bit to try to give him a more formal look.

"What do you think, my queen?" Kai asked, turning to Marionette with a grin on his face.

"Yeah, damsel? Impressed?" Leo asked, smirking at Gwen. "You gotta be fallin' for me now!"

"What... What are you two wearing?" Marionette asked, arching a brow and sitting up.

"Well... You see... I was trying to think of what those stupid Pegasus guys have that we don't, and then it hit me!" Kai started. He then flashed a slightly failed attempt at a "pretty-boy smile" and placed a hand on his hip. "They dress nice! That has to be what's pulling you two in!"

"Yeah! I think Kai's got the right idea, and I don't intend to do anything less than impress!" Leo chimed in.

Marionette and Gwen stared at the guys with dumbfounded looks on their faces for a moment. Marionette attempted to fight the laugh that she felt coming up, but in the end, she ended up starting out with a concealed snicker and then bursting into laughter, bringing her hand up to her mouth. She stood and walked over to Kai, who seemed to be taken aback by her laughter.

Gwen giggled and stood as well, skipping over to Leo.

"Laughter?" Kai asked, blushing lightly. He was pretty sure that may have been a first for him. Then again, it wasn't his intended affect, so it was a little bit hurtful.

"Um," Leo frowned, his eyes dropping to Gwen.

"At least if you are going to attempt something silly like this, you should execute it in a more flawless manner," Marionette said, laughter still in her voice. He looked silly. Nothing was straightened and the tie wasn't even tied, but rather thrown around his neck in such a fashion that it wouldn't be noticeable to the common eye. However, she was raised in an environment that often required formal wear, so she knew how it was done. Because it bothered her so bad, she brought her hands up to Kai's chest, straightening the tuxedo jacket and then proceeding to work on fixing his tie.

"So... It's not a successful attempt at impressing you, my queen?" Kai asked, enjoying the closeness of the two and forgetting about the fact that his attempt at impressing her had ended in laughter.

"Mere suits are not going to impress me," Marionette responded, finishing his tie. Her eyes then went up to his hair. "Your hair looks better with its normal style, in my opinion," she said, her eyes narrowing. "Please note that I do prefer your normal style." she finally added, stepping back, her lips curling into a small smile at the fact that she had managed to fix him up a bit. However, she still didn't like how he looked. He seemed to be carefree, so wasn't it better fo him to dress in a carefree manner?

Gwen did the same as Marionette, reaching up and fixing Leo's tie. "You know... I don't have feelings for Hibiki-san, if that is what you are thinking," she said in a small voice, her face turning bright red when she realized how close she was to Leo.

"Do you have feelings for me, then, my damsel?" Leo asked, a smirk on his face. "You know, you probably love me!" he added, grinning down at her. Just like Kai, he was enjoying the closeness, not minding the failed attempt at impressing her.

Gwen's blush deepened. "M-Maybe... Erm..." her hands tightened around his now fixed tie and her eyes fell to the ground. With one quick movement, she pulled Leo down with the tie and planted a tiny kiss on his cheek, her face burning. She then clapped her hands to her own cheeks and hummed nervously, her eyes falling to the ground.

Leo grinned broadly. "You know, you don't need to be shy about it," he said in a playful tone, though he was being completely serious. He was happy that she was becoming more open with her feelings now.

"So... You wanna confess your feelings for me now as well?" Kai asked, grinning playfully at Marionette.

Marionette stepped back and stuck her nose up to him. "That is merely a fantasy," she said, though her face was pink. Why was he making her feel this way? What the hell? She could feel her heart beating faster and it was annoying. So, she turned and walked back to the bed, making room for Gwen on the bed that she had previously been lying in.

Kai had noticed the blush and he grinned, but he didn't push it. It would only end with him getting beat into a bloody pulp and probably getting pushed away. He had no plans of giving up, though!

"So... Are we gonna be sharing beds?" Leo asked, grinning.

"You two will be," Marionette said, her eyes dancing from Kai to Leo. She had no intentions of sharing a bed with Kai and she was pretty sure that was what the guys probably had in mind. Repulsive. Even more repulsive was the fact that the thought made her blush. She fell back, pulled the covers over her and rolled over. "Good night," she said, not wanting them to notice her little dilemma. What was wrong with her?!

Gwen blinked, wondering why Marionette was being so moody, but she shrugged and fell back on the bed. "Good night, you two!" she said in a cheerful voice.

Leo and Kai exchanged glances that portrayed that they weren't amused. Unlike Marionette and Gwen, they were both larger with some muscle mass due to their active natures. They could sleep in the bed without touching, but it would be easy for them to touch during the night if either of them rolled over. However, when they looked back to the girls, neither of them seemed to be moving and since Gwen wasn't under the cover, one could see that her breathing had already slowed.

"Whatever..." Leo sighed, shrugging. The night had ended good, providing that he didn't wake up clinging to Kai... Or wake up with Kai clinging to him.

Kai thought the same, essentially.

* * *

The next day, the four mages got ready with little bits of chat and they were met outside of the hotel by the Trimens of Blue Pegasus.

"Ahh... I see that the lovely ladies still have such a wonderful perfume," Ichiya said, dancing around Marionette and Gwen, who were walking in front of the girls.

"Gwen, you are looking beautiful this morning!" Hibiki greeted Gwen specifically, winking at her.

"Marionette, I hope you put thought into making me your pet," Eve said, grabbing Marionette's hand as he stepped forward, a bright smile on his face.

"It's not like a like either of you, so don't worry about me," Ren said, folding his arms across his chest, though his eyes were scanning the bodies of the two females.

"Looks like they're already at it," Kai said in a dry tone. It was going to be a long day. At least all they had to do was escort a client out of the tundra and then they were done with being around them.

Gwen stepped back away from Hibiiki and sort of partially hid herself behind Leo, letting out a nervous hum. She had no intentions of letting Leo think that she had interest in Hibiki.

Leo grinned and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her against his side and smirking triumphantly at Hibiki, who snorted.

"You know... I am rather fond of Kai's broadsword and I am quite sure that it makes an excellent weapon against pesky men," Marionette said, her eyes darkening.

Kai laughed at that. "I'd be more than happy to lend it to her, y'know, so you better watch what you're doing," he said.

With that, the Trimens were silent and they began to walk to the cafe where they were supposed to meet the lady that they were to escort. The griffins were also silent and Gwen was the first one to speak. "Ichiya-san... I.. Thought you had an Exceed now?" she said, her voice small.

"Ah... Yes," Ichiya said, sparkles flowing from his body. "But Nichiya is an elegant mehn... He is not meant for harsh climates or chances of battle," he explained. He then danced over to Gwen. "Perhaps you are intrigued by my perfume and would like more of it? Is this why you question the absence of Nichiya?"

A sweat-drop appeared on Gwen's forehead and she hummed nervously. "I...I don't think I'm too in-tune with perfumes, to be honest..." she said, stepping away when Ichiya got really close to her. She found him to be annoying but she was not the type to say something like that for fear that it would hurt his feelings.

"You know, you can tell him off. I'm sure that someone as pestering as this fool gets it all the time," Marionette pointed out, noticing how awkward Gwen seemed to be. The girl needed to learn to speak up some, in Marionette's opinion.

"Nonsense!" the other three Trimens said in unison, all of them seeming to shine in unison as well.

"Ichiya-sama gets all of the ladies!" Hibiki said.

"He is the highly-respected leader of the Trimens!" Eve chimed in.

Marionette's eye twitched. "I... Can't take it anymore," she sighed. With that, she grabbed Kai's broadsword and with one swing-which took a lot of her strength-she slammed all four of the Trimens into the ground. "Too...Many...Sparkles..." she breathed, handing the now laughing Kai his sword back.

"Eh?" Gwen blinked, staring at the pile of men, who seemed to be sparkling still. "They still sparkle..." she said in a tiny voice, hiding behind Leo in case she offended Marionette by pointing this out.

* * *

They met with the client, who was a young woman, dressed in a simple blue dress under a fluffy, pale blue snow jacket, along with matching snow boots. She had black hair that was long and wavy and washed out yellow eyes with dark lashes. Her skin was pale. She seemed happy to see that so many mages had come to help her. They had a meal with her and then started off through the tundra.

Now, they had been walking in relative silence for about an hour and the woman, whose name was Lorie, had been pestered constantly by the Trimens. The griffins had resulted in walking a bit ahead of the rest of the group in order to avoid the Trimens.

"My, you four are quite the bunch aren't you?" Lorie said, her voice holding the dry sound of annoyance. "I do hope you aren't all beauty. It is not uncommon to get attacked by Snow Trolls in this tundra, and I did request for mages that can protect me since I cannot use magic," she said.

"We will fight. We would be fools not to fight with such a lovely lady," Hibiki said.

"Especially when she has such a delicate perfume," Ichiya added, striking one of his signature poses.

Lorie sighed and stepped forward. "You know... You guys really aren't my type in the least," she said, tiring of them faster than Gwen and Marionette had. "I really prefer men with more muscles, like the two who seem to be keeping away from me," she said, smirking at Leo and Kai. "They seem like they could protect me..." With that, she pushed herself in between Kai and Leo, smiling up at both of them.

Marionette found herself glaring at Lorie before she could catch herself. However, the female light mage managed to catch herself before Kai could catch her look. What was wrong with her? How many times had she questioned this since the mission had started? Why did it make her mad that some tramp was flirting with Kai? It wasn't like they were anything more than teammates and guild mates; she had no right to be angry. Still, she felt the negative emotion pulsing in her head, causing her to clinch her fists.

However, her jealousy was eased a bit, which made her further question her sanity, when Kai laughed and said, "Sorry, but my heart is taken." She felt him wrap an arm around her shoulder and for a moment, she didn't react. She felt Kai's eyes on her and realized what was going on. Her head suddenly racing, she forced a glare and pulled away from him, though she was pretty sure there was a voice in her head telling her not to. She was certain of it; she was losing her mind.

Kai realized that Marionette was acting strange. He wasn't that oblivious to this sort of thing. He wanted to question it, but the girl seemed really off and he thought it would be better to do so in private, not to bring it to the attention of the other mages.

Gwen braced herself for Leo to flirt with the woman, so she let her eyes fall to the ground so that she at least wouldn't have to see the scene, but her eyes widened when she didn't hear anything. Still bracing herself, she looked up to see that Leo's eyes were on the path ahead of them and he seemed to be ignoring the woman for some reason or another. It shocked her and she found herself staring up at him with wide eyes.

Leo felt Gwen's eyes on him and he looked down at her, giving her a look of inquiry when he saw the look on her face. "What's wrong, my damsel?" he asked.

"Oh!" Gwen jumped and panicked, her face turning beet red. "N-nothing," she stammered, hugging herself as she panicked, sweat-drops all over her forehead. "It's really nothing!" she added in a high-pitched voice.

"Figures that such handsome men would be taken," Lorie sighed, falling behind the two. "I'm not interested anymore, I guess..." she added.

Marionette was too lost in her own little world of questioning herself to respond, which made Kai's heart skip a beat. Something was definitely wrong with her!

The four griffins didn't have much more time to ponder their relationships or sanity because Lorie let out a shrill scream, bringing everyone down to the reality that they were crossing a dangerous tundra.

A trio of Snow Trolls, huge monsters that were at least 15 feet tall with thickened white skin and large, beady eyes were running towards them, their huge fists readied, their lips pulled back to reveal razor-sharp teeth.

"Gwen and I will take one!" Leo called, already turning his black book into his broadsword.

"Marionette and I've got one, then," Kai responded. "You guys can take the other," he said to the Trimens, who seemed to be staring at the large beasts in wonder... Or fear...

Gwen instantly pulled up her Technician screen and dropped down a bunch of mines behind the trolls before reaching out and grabbing Leo's free hand, hoping that he would get what she needed him to do.

Leo smiled at her and surged a small amount of electricity through her so that she would be able to fight. Knowing what she had most likely done with her magic, Leo charged forward and slammed the flat side of his blade into the troll's abdomen, knocking it backwards into a set of mines that Gwen had placed down.

Gwen smiled and called out "Technician Whip and Cannon!", grabbing her cannon and whip out of a magic circle that was created from Leo's magic. She cracked her whip forward, wrapping it around one of the troll's ankles. She then fired off her cannon, hitting it in the face with a blast and causing it to stumble back, bellowing in pain.

Leo un-summoned his sword and darted forward, shouting "Storm Wolf: Spark Blow!" and striking the troll on either side with electrical palms that caused him to stop moving completely as the electricity surged through his body.

Putting forward all of her physical strength, Gwen tugged at her whip with both hands and caused the troll to come crashing to the ground, swirls in its eyes, heat radiating from its charred body.

Meanwhile, Marionette and Kai dealt with their portion of the fight.

"Light Magic: Strike-Through!" Marionette called out, holding her palm forward as a beam of light shot through it and shot through one of the shoulders of the troll. It cried out in pain, but its cries were cut short as Kai attacked.

"Light Magic: Sunflare Beam!" Kai called, shooting out his own beam of light, though his light had a slightly orange tint to it while Marionette's was mostly white. His beam of light shot through the troll's other shoulder. He saw an opening and shot forward with his broadsword shining with light. He slashed through the trolls chest with extreme force.

Marionette darted forward behind him with long light daggers in each hand and followed up Kai's slash by making her own mark. Together, their attack formed an "X" on the troll's chest.

The troll groaned as blood stained his white skin. He glared at Kai and Marionette, but didn't have the energy left to attack and instead fell back, defeated.

Meanwhile, the Blue Pegasus guys weren't having quite as much luck as the griffins. Ichiya had danced forward and been smacked to the side, defeated in one hit, by the troll and Eve had already discovered that the trolls had a high resistance to snow magic... Then again, who wouldn't assume that?

So, it was just Hibiki and Ren against the troll.

Hibiki brought his palm forward and it began to glow before yellow screens with red writing surrounded the troll and blasted it, causing it to slide back slightly and growl at them.

Ren swung his arms around and air magic surrounded him. He called out "Aerial Phose" before shooting his arms forward and causing a cyclone to surround the troll and spin it around, causing it to let out a cry that held both anger and pain in it.

The troll was thrown by the magic and when Leo and Kai noticed that it was over them, they reacted, Kai batting it up with his broadsword while Leo zapped it with a lightning covered palm. The troll landed with the other trolls, defeated.

"That was astounding, mehn..." Ichiya mumbled, giving them a sparkly thumbs-up.

"You and the blond boy didn't even do anything," Lorie pointed out. During the fight, she had stayed back and not spoken at all, but she had noticed that two of the Trimens hadn't done much of anything.

"You guys didn't have any problems?" Hibiki asked, noticing that the two trolls had been defeated and the griffins didn't have a scratch on them.

"That's quite impressive," Eve said.

"Maybe you four would be interested in joining Blue Pegasus, mehn," Ichiya said, standing and dusting himself off, trying to look "beautiful" even though his hair was messed up and he had blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

"No, thanks," Leo said, folding his arms over his chest. "We're griffins and we'll stay that way, right?" he asked, looking to his guild mates.

"Hell yeah!" Kai said, grinning broadly.

"I must agree with your words," Marionette said, smiling proudly. "I do not have interest in joining a larger guild. I only have interest in seeing our guild rise."

"I think that Marionette is right," Gwen said, smiling sheepishly. "N-not that there is anything wrong with Blue Pegasus!" she added hastily in case they had offended Blue Pegasus.

"I await to see when this will happen, if it does," Hibiki said, smiling at the griffins. "I don't doubt that you will be in the Grand Magic Games this year?" he asked.

"Of course!" Leo and Kai and said together, grins on their faces.

Gwen's eyes widened at the words. "Do you think that Winter's actually going to let us participate?" she asked.

"She has been talking quite a bit about it," Marionette said.

"I think we'll look forward to seeing you there," Eve said in a cheerful voice. The group had now began walking and were making their way through the tundra.

* * *

Once they made it out of the tundra, all of the mages and Lorie stayed at the hotel that they had stayed at at the start of the mission. Luckily, there were no more mix-ups and Gwen and Marionette ended up in one room while Kai and Leo were in the other. The rest of the travel through the tundra had been uneventful and apart from small talk about what Silver Griffin would expect from the games if they participated, it was quiet.

While Gwen curled up on her bed with a book, Marionette showered and then kicked back, happy to be able to enjoy the peace of being in a room. While she and Gwen weren't really the type to become close because Gwen was meek to the point of annoyance, Marionette didn't mind being around the girl because she was quiet. The female light mage was about to curl up with a book as well when there was a knock on the door. She let out a sigh, her eyes narrowing, watching as Gwen hopped up and walked to the door.

Gwen opened the door and smiled sheepishly at Kai, who was on the other side of the doorway. "Um, hello," she said, moving so that Kai could enter the room.

Kai didn't enter the room, though. He greeted Gwen cheerfully and then asked, "Could I talk to Marionette for a moment?"

"Oh, right. I'll leave the room," Gwen said, but before she could actually exchange places with Kai, Marionette stopped her.

"Do not worry with that. I am sure that whatever he wants to talk about is trivial and I do not want to bother," she said. However, she was standing beside Gwen, meaning that she had already put forth some amount of effort into the matter.

"Errr... Are you sure?" Gwen asked, touching the tips of her index fingers together in a timid manner.

"Marionette, it won't take long," Kai said. He was going to be persistent, as he always was with Marionette. He wanted to know what was bothering her so much and he wouldn't give up until he got it out of her because it seemed so unlike her.

"Fine," Marionette said, taking note of the fact that he was being serious. It made her wonder if something was amiss. "Only for a few minutes, though," she said, following him outside as he turned.

* * *

Once the two were outside, Kai turned to Marionette and started to speak, his eyes on her face. The light outside was fading and it was really cold, but Marionette didn't seem to mind the weather and Kai was dressed appropriately. "Is something bothering you, my queen? You know I'm always willing to be a shoulder to cry on if you need it!"

Marionette's eye twitched in curiosity as to what he could mean. "I have no idea why you would come to such a foolish conclusion," she said, folding her arms across her chest. Surely he could tell that she was not the type of woman to seek comfort from someone and even if there was something bothering her, such as the fact that she thought she was going insane, she had no plans of telling anyone.

"Well... You haven't been being as mean to me as usual and you seem to be lost in thoughts a lot more than usual and you've just been generally different," Kai explained, his eyes going to sky. Why did this conversation make him nervous? He wasn't the type to get nervous but for some reason, he was worried that something was horribly wrong with Marionette. Maybe something had happened. Maybe she was intolerably tired of him. Either way, it made his stomach churn.

Marionette arched a brow and snorted. "The fact that you find me being kinder to you is incorrect and even if I do have something on my mind, I would not be telling you," she said in a matter-of-fact voice.

Kai looked down at her and grinned at her. "I wouldn't tell anyone or anything like that, you know. That's why I wanted to get you alone to talk to you about it. I didn't want to bring it to everyone's attention that you're acting different."

"I am not acting different," she replied, but at the same time she felt her cheeks warming up and she hated herself for it. Why?! She found herself looking a bit more at his grin, even though it was for just a second. Realizing that he could probably tell that she was blushing, she looked down, parts of her hair shielding her face.

"Y'know, I didn't know you better, I'd assume you're like, falling in love with me or something," Kai said, laughing lightly. He had seen that she was blushing and he would have given anything at that moment to know what she was thinking, but he just couldn't tell. She could be moody and she didn't display her emotions to the fullest so she was hard to read.

Marionette's eyes widened before she scowled at him. "That is completely false!" she snapped, her voice a little too shrill for her liking. With that, she turned and began to storm off, walking past him with her arms folded over her chest. How dare him! How would he accuse her of something so absurd! Never!

Kai smirked and turned to follow her, placing a hand on her shoulder and twisting her around to face him. Before she had time to protest, he pressed his lips to hers, his cheeks glowing with blush as he did so. He wasn't sure how she would react and his heart was pounding, but he was going with his heart, not his head at that moment.

Marionette froze when he kissed her. She was pretty sure he had successfully brought out nearly every emotion that she could possibly feel at that moment. Her face was bright pink and her arms had fallen to her sides with her fists clenched tightly. However, she found that she couldn't pull away, which made her frustrated.

Kai pulled back, already braced to be beaten to the ground, his shoulders tense. However, after a few moments, his eyes focused to see that Marionette was staring up at him. He grinned nervously, hoping to warrant some kind of response.

After realizing that the storm of emotions in her heart weren't going to stop so that she could think calmly, Marionette turned and continued to walk away, though it was a bit slowly and not as angrily as she had been proceeding before.

Kai stood for a moment, trying unsuccessfully to read her and then followed behind her, a smile on his face. At least she hadn't responded negatively.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Have a really long chapter to make up for my absence! I wrote 80% of this in one day! The next two chapters will be the same... There are 3 more chapters left in this arc and then the GMGs will start. I'll be working some on the next chapter this weekend, but I won't be able to get it out until the end of the week or weekend. Sorry! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please leave a review if you want! Sorry if there are some mistakes in this one; it's a long chapter and thus I'm bound to make more mistakes and not catch them.

**Review Responses: **

Thank you all so much for reviewing, as always!

**Junior the Otaku: **I'm so happy that you enjoyed the chapter! I love fluff moments and this chapter has a lot of them, too! And I'm glad that you think they story is so good. I hope that more people aren't that upset by me not changing much.

**Death Obelisk -** So happy to have another reader! Anyway, I'm happy that you liked my portrayal of Millianna. :) She's one of my favorite characters~

**La Maitresse' Dame - **Hm... There are two-three confirmed couples. Gabe/Ikaros and Lillay/Danny are definite and then Kimi/Jared are pretty obvious, though they aren't super-confirmed like others. I bet a warm tent would feel really nice; I dunno, though, I've never been camping! X_X

**Hiragami Kotone - **Hehe! I'm glad you liked the chapter and I hope you liked this one! It made me really sad to write the part with Hikari visiting Flora's grave. T_T

**zeganon - **Yay! New reader! :) Yeah, I love developing the couples and I try not to rush it, but sometimes I feel as if I'm making it too slow, now that I look at the fic! Anyway, most couples are on the verge of developing into full-blown couples, which makes me happy! I'm happy that you liked my portrayal of Millianna.

**FairyTailWolf6 - **I'm happy that you liked the chapter!

**Nicky Azure - **I'm really excited to stat the games, too! I think that's why I'm pushing out a few long chapters to end this arc instead of pushing out short chapters. Well, one of the reasons. The main reason is actually that it's to make up for not being able to update as often. X_X

**DraXXter - **I'm happy that you liked Millianna so much! And yeah, Emery doesn't get along with most people so being stuck with someone who doesn't get along with most people can be troublesome. T_T And I can't wait to write Ice/Cross meeting Millianna. XD I despise writer's block so much. T_T I get it at the worst times, but luckily, that won't happen much again until after the GMGs because I have a lot of stuff planned.

**Link - **Millianna is by far one of my favorite characters! :) And nope, not gonna restart. Just gonna finish this one and go into my next fic along the way and use this one to learn from my mistakes, and I'll probably keep doing something like that until I either get tired of writing OC guild fics or build my writing skills even more or something. :)


	36. Quick Special with Info on New Guild

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys! It's time for a different sort of special. Because I'm only a few characters shy of having the new guild complete and **OC SUBMISSION ARE FINALLY CLOSED**, I will be doing a special that will be sorta like the prologue to this story to introduce what the new guild is. If you see [...] that's the guild's name, but I haven't actually closed polling so the guild name is censored. :)

If I have told you that you may submit an OC and you haven't sent it, I am still awaiting your OC; I am not saying that you can't make it by closing OC submissions.

Also, some notes... This is just to introduce the guild masters. Yes. Masters. The guild masters are based off of myself, my fiance and our best friend. So... Yeah... That's why it has Raiyane in it. I will not be pairing myself with anyone, and I won't be portraying my appearance completely correctly, but yeah. I know self-inserts are frowned upon, but my fiance and friend wanted me to do it and I promise that it will be fun and I'm not shipping myself with a canon character, but more of just placing myself and my friends in the Fairy Tail world to make a guild, because we always fantasize what it would be like to be in a guild in Fairy Tail.

This is mostly to give some information on the new guild, including it's location. Don't hate me. I promise I won't focus completely on myself or anything.

* * *

STARTING A NEW GUILD

"Damn, Raiyane, are you frickin' happy now?" the dark skinned male, clad in a deep green monk's robe, wearing nothing but white foot-wraps on his feet said, glaring at the smaller female who was bouncing around him and the other male that was with him. His dark eyes were hidden behind square glasses and his tall figure was rigid, portraying his frustration.

"She's never happy, Kanume... Shouldn't you just give up on that?" the other male said in a bored voice. This male was standing with a slouched posture, though if he would have been standing erect, he would have been about the same height as the darker male, which was a few inches over six feet. The male had broader shoulders than his monk-like friend and his skin was so pale that one would think that the male had never seen sunlight. His dark eyes, framed by dark circles and dark lashes, were focused on the bouncing female and his messy black hair that covered most of his ears and neck fluffed out a bit to shade his eyes from the sun. He was dressed in a black cloak over a black t-shirt, black pants and black boots. Safe to say that he liked the color black, just as his friend liked the color green.

"I'm happy right now~ Don't be so mean, Jaxson!" the girl said. This girl wasn't as calm as her friends appeared and she was also a lot smaller than them. Her hair was brown with strands of it reddened by the sun and it was spiky and frizzy. It would brush her shoulder if it was wet or smoothed down. Her dark green eyes were hidden behind large round glasses that had swirls on them and she was dressed in a white lab-coat and neon pink sneakers with yellow laces. Under her lab-coat, she had on a bright goldenrod t-shirt and black pants. The thick lab-coat hid her figure, which was thin and lacking muscles.

"Do you really think we're suited to run a guild?" the paler male, Jaxson, asked, still seeming just as bored.

"Well... Yeah! We'll get to see all kinds of magic and maybe... Maybe I can experiment on them or something!" the girl, Raiyane, said, clapping her hands together and grinning.

"NO!" the darker male, Kanume, snapped, his eyes widening. "You promised us that they would be a family, not a group of test subjects... Remember?"

"Oh, right, sorry," Raiyane said. She then turned back to the huge guild hall which was essentially a tree house.

The guildhall was a two story building nestled in between giant branches of an overgrown tree that had been created with Kanume's Geomancy magic. The building's frame was made of large bones, while the rest of it was made out of various woods, until one saw the roof of it, which was also made of bones that came together to form a pointed roof. A bright yellow Tesla-coil jutted from each side of the roof, the spheres on the end sparking as they took in some magic from the area.

"However..." Raiyane looked around, her eyes narrowing behind her glasses. "Do... Do you think this is the best place to make a guild hall?"

The guild was located in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by verdant greenery and lush forests on every side. They were at least a two weeks travel away from the nearest town, Nadeshiko, and there was no train-station anywhere to be seen. Beyond the miles upon miles of greenery, there were some swamps that Jaxson found solace in so it would be unlikely that anyone would even want to travel to the guild hall because once they made it to the swamps, which were about half a day's travel from the giant tree, they would probably turn around.

"It's peaceful," Kanume commented. "I like it."

"I don't like people," Jaxson reminded her, glaring slightly at her.

"Well... How..." Raiyane's hands balled into fists. "How the hell are we supposed to get guild members?!" she snapped, her cheerful demeanor turning dark.

"Geez! Calm down!" Kanume responded, holding his hands up in a defensive manner. "We'll figure something out!"

"But, but there's so much to worry about... How are we gonna run the place? How are we gonna get members? What if we fail? How are we even supposed to get food? I'm so hungry... I'm scared. This isn't gonna work. It was a bad idea... Terrible even... I hate it here. Why did you two agree with me? You're both awful..." Raiyane rambled on and on as if she was going through some mental breakdown. She curled into the ground and clasped her hands on either side of her head, whimpering and rambling about how bad their situation was.

"Dude... Did we just build the guild hall for her and she just go crazy?" Kanume asked, looking to Jaxson.

"Yep," Jaxson said. He then walked over and snatched Raiyane from the ground, sitting her on her feet. "Calm down. Think of something. Stop being such a bitch," he said.

Raiyane clung to him, sniffling and burying her face into his chest. "I know... Maybe..." she mumbled.

Kanume let out a deep sigh. "What are we gonna do about people, though?" he asked, bringing his hand up to his chin in a thoughtful manner.

"I can make a UFO and abduct them!" Raiyane said, suddenly brightening up and hopping away from Jaxson, a huge grin on her face.

"I could just bring them here with shadows," Jaxson added, a shadow with dark tendrils appearing on the ground.

"I... Don't think abducting them would work well," Kanume said, his eyes twitching. "We need them to want to join... Unless we wanna get written off as a dark guild..."

"Our guild hall is made of bone... Do you really think it's gonna be hard for us to get written off as a dark guild?" Jaxson asked, sarcasm oozing from his voice.

"It's also got wood, from trees! So it's life and death!" Kanume reminded him, grinning.

"Wooden logs like that are dead trees, so it's really just more death," Jaxson argued.

"Man, whatever. Let's go inside," Kanume said. With that, one of the branches bent around to make a path up to the door of the guild hall. The trio walked up it, Kanume in the lead, and entered the guild hall.

The guild hall didn't look bad on the inside. It was decorated with soft green carpet that one could practically sleep on and the tables were made of dark, almost black, wood with soft purple chairs around them. The bar was made of dark wood as well, but it had goldenrod colored bar stools and all of the mugs matched them. All around the guild hall were hammocks made of vines that the guild members could nap in. There was a giant TV lacrima on the east wall, furthest away from the bar and it was positioned so that most people in the guild could see it. The request board was on the west wall, but it was empty. It had "Request Board" written in bubbly goldenrod letters, but it was bordered by purple wood that was wrapped in green vines. There was a small request board behind the bar that was for S-class missions. There was also a door to a kitchen and a door to a small hospital like room behind the bar.

There were two staircases at the back of the guild hall, one on the left and one on the right and they led up to a platform that overlooked the guild. The railing was made of bone and wrapped in vines.

The second floor looked like a giant research lab with the walls lines with black-top tables that were full of beakers, flasks and test tubes, as well as bottles of various chemicals and magic. There was a machine that could analyze magic in one corner of the room. The floor was white and the walls were, too, but they had yellow trim. There was a small staircase in the corner opposite to the analyzing machine and it led to the rooms of the three guild masters.

"Why did you put hammocks everywhere?" Raiyane asked, walking around the guild hall and noticing the hammocks. "Why not sofas?" she added, frowning.

"Hammocks are great! I think all mages need naps!" Kanume explained.

"O-kay!" Raiyane said. "We need people to run the guild!" she said. With that, she threw her hands in the air and after a golden magic circle appeared, two orb-like robots with one golden "eye" on the front appeared.

"What are those?" Kanume asked.

"They are information bots.. It's the only kind of Robot magic that I know and it took me forever to read up on it to master it, but they can help the mages to know about the area and give some extra info on missions if needed. They will stay near the request boards!"

"I'll make some skeletons to run the place," Jaxson said, shrugging. With that, a black magic circle appeared on the ground and two skeletons climbed out.

"At your service," one of them said, bowing, his bones clicking together.

"Run the bar and kitchen, you two," Jaxson explained.

The skeletons nodded and while one began to look around the bar, the other walked into the kitchen.

"I'll make two guard golems, a medic golem and a repair golem," Kanume said as four green magic circles appeared on the ground after the sage held out his arms.

"Make the medic golem pink!" Raiyane called. She was already upstairs and making sure everything was tidy with the upstairs.

Kanume sighed and rolled his eyes, but he complied. So, two stone golems appeared out in front of the guild to guard it and help the mages up into the guild. These golems would scan for the guild mark and then boost the mages into the guild hall. A smaller golem that was pink in color appeared in the medical room of the guild and then a golem that was dark green in color appeared against one wall, silent until something got destroyed.

"Yay!" Raiyane cheered. She then hopped down, stumbled and ran over to the guys. "I think it would be good for us to go to the Grand Magic Games to recruit mages. They're in a little over a month and I'm sure mages from all over come to watch them. We could just be social!"

Jaxson groaned, rolling his eyes again. "Fine... I don't think there's a better idea."

"We also need some way for them to get to the guild. I don't think anyone is going to want to walk here," Kanume pointed out.

"We could make transport golems. You could make me lots of golems and I'll upgrade them to travel faster and to be a comfortable ride," Raiyane responded.

"I can also make skeletons that can transport them through the shadows," Jaxson pointed out.

"We could do both. We could set the up everywhere and then our mages would just have to flash their guild mark to get them to transport them to the guild hall," she said. "We should make some skeletons and info bots that can bring us requests, since I doubt clients will want to come here, either," Raiyane explained.

"So... Are we gonna do this all before the games?" Kanume asked, his eyes widening.

"Yep!" Raiyane responded.

Kanume and Jaxson groaned in unison.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hope that was understandable. I wrote it up in a bit over an hour. I just wanted to get it out there. I think the histories are good enough that not much is going to have to be changed. I think there were a couple of histories that assumed the guild would be in Nadeshiko and it's not. Some of the new OCs will appear at the games and be recruited, though the ones that have strong relations to the Silver Griffin mages will be recruited to the guild after the games, though they will appear at the games. Some members won't be recruited until the start of their new fic, too.

The idea for the guild hall and being run by skeletons, robots and golems as well as the location of the guild hall came from my friend and fiance. While I did choose Raiyane's magic, I did not choose Kanume's or Jaxson's magic.

**Now that I finally got this information decided, if you want to change up your OC's history a bit, just message me. I don't mind at all! **

Anyway, I think the new fic will be fun when it finally happens because the guild hall isn't in a town or anything and I will be able to write out the mages adjusting to using transport skellies and golems and such. Tell me what you think! I didn't come up with this all on my own and apart from little ideas, I usually don't take story changing ideas from people, but this time I did... So.. Yeah. :)

Review responses will be next chapter!


	37. Chapter 34

**Author's Note: **Hi, guys~ Hope you enjoy the chapter! Anyway, just a little note that I realized may not be obvious... I'm not rushing this arc. The last parts of these missions are just a little too short to be able to be one chapter so I'm combining the last of the missions. This chapter will be the ending of team Adrian's and team Azura's missions and the next chapter will be the ending to team Stark's mission along with Kimi's mission, as well as some more little scenes. The 1-3 chapters will be about the Nightshade Festival and some other little scenes. Hope that sounds good. With that, because I have a good bit of characters to work with in this chapter, this chapter may be even longer than the last chapter. ^^; Heh. Enjoy!

**Please note that I know nothing of guns, and as such these enemies might be fail in terms of realistic-ness.**

_**VOTE ON THE POLL ON MY PROFILE, PLEASE! IT HAS A LARGE IMPACT, SINCE IT WILL BE THE NAME OF THE MAIN GUILD OF THE NEXT STORY!**_

* * *

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

"Thank you so much... Bless your beautiful souls," A middle aged woman said as Wendy and Sara used their magic to heal her two female children, one of which had been shot in the shoulder and the other which had fallen and broken her arm. Now, they were okay and smiling happily at the two young females.

"Thank you so much!" the younger of the two girls and the one who had broken her arm said, jumping up and wrapping her arms around Wendy, who had healed the her.

"You're the best!" the older of the two girls said, hugging Sara tightly.

"I owe you so much..." the woman said, relieved eyes on her children.

"You don't owe us anything," Wendy said in a kind voice, returning the hug and then tucking her arms behind her back. "It's our job as mages with Sky magic," she said, smiling at Sara.

"Yeah! We're really happy that we could help!" Sara said, returning the hug from the girl and then stepping back. She and Wendy were running around, healing the ones who had been injured.

A few of the mages from Fairy Tail and Silver Griffin were currently on a mission in the seaside town of Sunflower and all was going well making the mission seem more like a vacation instead of a mission when people had flooded from the town, saying that thieves were attacking the town. Now, the mages, who were all together had split up. Levy had went to take Cantrelle back to the hotel and get her out of danger, while Lucy, Yuki, Adrian and Sharon were going after the thieves.

"We need to get going now," Carla pointed out. There were plenty of injured civilians and though the two girls were receiving a lot of thanks, they needed to work fast and not spend too much time talking with the people that they helped.

"Right!" Wendy and Sara said in unison. With that, they ran off to look for more people to help out.

"This is really stressful, isn't it?" Wendy asked in a small voice.

"Yeah," Sara responded. She was starting to see that she and Wendy weren't much different at all. They had really powerful magic, but in the end, they were just under-trained and needed a lot more practice. On top of that, all of the chaos made both of the girls nervous, it seemed. Luckily for them, Carla seemed to be quite level-headed and was helping to lead them around. "Erm, thank you, Carla-san," Sara said in a tiny voice.

The white Exceed looked at the two girls from the corner of her eyes. "I do not know what you would be thanking me for," she said, her eyes focusing on the crowd that had taken to the beach.

"You are helping us a lot, Carla!" Wendy commented, smiling brightly at her Exceed partner.

Carla let out a small snort of pride and smiled before continuing to guide the girls.

* * *

Lucy, Adrian, Sharon and Yuki ran through the mass of crowd, their eyes scanning for the enemies. However, it was hard to see anything as they were pushed around. Even taking to sliding against the buildings didn't really help the situation. Luckily, they didn't have to put effort into finding the enemies, because Adrian's eyes darted to one of the rooftops, and he saw the gun. His eyes widened and he wrapped his arms around his teammates and he yelled, "Jane's Protection!" in a loud voice.

Lucy and Yuki, who didn't know much about Adrian's magic both let out surprised cries as everything went black and they fell against Adrian due to the lack of space. Yuki let out a growl while Lucy asked, "Wh-what's going on?"

Neither Adrian nor Sharon had time to respond before there was a loud bang as bullets collided with the barrier that protected them. Adrian opened his mouth to say something when it was over, but there was another louder bang that caused their shelter to shake and nearly collapse. All of the mages let out small cries of surprise and Adrian whimpered when he had to push more magic into the flower barrier around them to keep it stable.

"Are you okay, Adri?" Sharon asked, looking up at him with worried eyes.

"We've got to fight," Adrian said. "As soon as I let go of my magic, move, okay?" The nature mage's eyes danced between all of his comrades. The cheeriness was starting to fade and turn into a fighter's persona. Adrian was a pacifist, or at least he liked to think of himself as one. He preferred to play the medic, if anything, but he felt as if they needed more offensive mages for this fight, so he decided to play the fighter.

"Right!" All three of his teammates said in unison, returning his glance, even though they could barely see in the dar.

With that, the flower disappeared from around them and they spread out.

Lucy darted off to the left, barely dodging another bullet from the sniper. While she scrambled for a key that would work good against gun magic, she didn't realize who she had stumbled in front of a guy who had multiple small cannons jutting from his arms, a smirk on his face. "Heh?" she blinked when he began to fire at her.

Yuki shot forward with his fists and tail ablaze, attacking the enemy that was right in front of him. The enemy was a rather large man who had a strap of grenades around his chest.

When the enemy saw Yuki, he threw one of the grenades, only to have the fox boy dodge it and charge forward, slamming a fist into his face.

Adrian shot into the air with a vine from his arm and took the roof, landing in a crouched position, his eyes narrowed. "Hey, sniper! Though I don't really like fighting, I have to let you know that I am your opponent!" he called to the sniper who was on the building across from him.

The sniper, a slender man with dark focused eyes and buzz-cut hair glared at him and fired at him, his aim right on Adrian's forehead.

Sharon jumped past Yuki, only to come under fire of a handheld Gatling-gun. The girl was fast and she darted past them, and she threw her arms out, making air that would repel most bullets that were fired at her. She pulled the flaming sword from her back and smiled as she darted towards her enemy.

Lucy had shut her eyes tightly when she had seen the man begin to fire at her, but she opened them when she felt herself being lifted and then shot underground. "Virgo!" she said, her eyes widening in surprise and relief.

"At your service, Hime. Are you enjoying your vacation?" the pink haired celestial spirit, clad in a maid outfit asked, no real emotion in her face as usual.

"It's not a vacation!" Lucy snapped. She then looked up to see that they were underground. She thought about what would be the best thing to do. She wasn't sure how well guns and cannons worked with water, but it seemed like a safe bet and there was a fountain not far behind the man that she was fighting, so she thought it would be a good idea. "Virgo, take me behind the guy I'm fighting!"

"As you wish, Hime," Virgo responded. Lucy let out a small scream as the maid shot forward and then shot out of the ground, dropping her.

Lucy landed on her feet, a golden key in her hand. Before Virgo could request her punishment, Lucy spun around and stuck the key in the water. "Gate of the Water Bearer, I open thee! Aquarius!"

"What the hell do you want, Blondie?!" the blunette mermaid snapped as she appeared in the water, a glare on her face. "I have a date in an hour, so this better be quick!"

Before Lucy could respond to the spirit, she had to dive into the fountain to avoid a series of fire from her enemy. "Get him!" she sputtered nervously as she emerged from the water.

"Whatever," Aquarius responded, bringing her urn above her head and screaming furiously as she made the water in the fountain rise and shoot out at the enemy, blasting him harshly.

Sharon noticed the water and she jumped into the air, not surprised when her opponent was able to jump as well, both of them landing on the roof of building.

Yuki jumped to avoid the water as well, but when his opponent attempted to jump, the fox mage used his tail to slam the man back down into the water, smirking down at him as he stood on all fours on the balcony of one of the buildings.

Yuki's opponent let out a cry of pain as he was struck, but it didn't stop him from throwing a grenade at Yuki, causing a large explosion that injured Yuki to the extent of being nearly knocked out, his vision blurring. The man then fell into the water, coughing and sputtering as he did.

Adrian had managed to dodge the bullet nimbly, but when he saw Yuki, who was falling limply into the water, he became distracted. He shot down a vine and grabbed the mage and pulled him up, noticing that during the explosion, he appeared to have been blasted back and busted his head open. He was relieved that the boy seemed to be conscious and only shaken from the explosion. He was about to tell Yuki that it would be okay and that he needed to be careful, but he had made a mistake that could prove to be fatal.

The sniper fired his rifle, aiming for Adrian's head, his hand twitching ever-so-slightly.

Blood splattered on Yuki as Adrian was hit and the young man watched in horror, not seeing where the shot hit, as Adrian's eyes began to lose their shine. Just as soon as the first shot had come, another one came, hitting Adrian a second time, this one obviously in the head, and causing blood to splatter once more before he fell from the roof, Yuki screaming and reaching for him. Unfortunately, Yuki was too weak from his own head injury to catch him and could only cry out as he fell, a few flower petals flowing from the last bit of magic that he released, possibly in attempt to save himself.

Sharon watched the scene in absolute horror. Her shrill voice sounded through the air as she screamed out Adrian's name, tears flooding from her eyes in an instant. There was no way... But the shot had hit him in the head... Twice, maybe... No... No... She was shaking and not even paying attention to her own enemy at all.

Lucy heard the cries of her friends and she looked around, not seeing Adrian anywhere. She only saw the blood on the roof and how Sharon was shaking. She brought her hand up to her mouth, her eyes widening. She didn't know what to say, or what to do. Should she summon Virgo or someone to go check on him? What... What if he hadn't made it...?

"Maybe you should pay attention," a voice snapped Lucy away from her thoughts and she looked to see the cannon mage, now drenched in water and glaring darkly at her. "I'll destroy you just as Landon destroyed that other guy!" he said, laughing as he brought his arms up.

Lucy began to panic, also noticing that Aquarius had already left. Fumbling, she grabbed a golden key from her ring and called out "Gate of the Lion, I open thee! Leo!"

Loke appeared in front of her, smirking back her. However, the orange haired lion spirit instantly realized that something was amiss. They were in a situation of panic, it seemed. He looked around, his eyes landing on the cannon mage in front of him and glared, pushing his glasses onto his face. "Are you bothering Lucy?" he asked in a dark voice.

"So what if I am? I'll blast through you, too, you useless spirit!" the man said. He began to fire large blasts of bullet-like magic at Loke, screaming maniacally as he did so.

Loke pushed Lucy down to make sure that she wouldn't be hit by the blasts, apologized and then shot forward, light already surrounding his fist. "Regulus Impact!" he called, quickly dodging the bullets and making his way towards the enemy, slamming his fist into his face. With that, a giant lion's head of light emerged and struck the man, blasting him backwards into the remains of an already destroyed building. Loke smirked and pushed his glasses up again. "I don't take kindly to those targeting Lucy or calling me weak," he reminded the enemy, though he was unconscious.

Sharon didn't turn to her enemy until he began to fire at her, her wind saving her from the attack. She couldn't think straight. She didn't know what to do. She just wanted to know that he was okay... But then again, who could be okay from something like that...?

"Was he special to you or somethin'?" the man, a large man with sunglasses, camouflage clothing and a hard hat asked. "You know, I can let you be with him, if you want..."

"SHUT UP!" Sharon snapped, turning back to the enemy, tears and anger in her eyes. She still couldn't think about anything, but she would obliterate the enemy, the one who was close to the ones who had possibly taken Adrian from her. She would make sure to leave scars on him. So, in a flash, she was behind him and slashing him the back with her sword. When he stumbled forward, she kicked him and then summoned up her Air Whip and lashed it across the fresh wound that was caused from her sword. "I will make you pay!" she growled, tears streaming down her face once again. With that, tornadoes began to surrounded the already downed man and Sharon snapped her fingers, glaring as Tornado's Maze lifted him up and began to slash away at him. She didn't care. She could feel her anger taking complete control of her mind. His friends had taken Adrian from her!

Yuki was in the same condition. Despite his injury, when he realized what had happened, his body burst into flames, five tails of fire instantly accompanying his normal one tail. He turned to the sniper and snarled deeply, a feral look in his eyes, his body distorted so that he could stand easily on all fours. His canines were elongated and shining against his fire. In an instant, he jumped across the buildings and was on the other side. His tails shot out and scooped up the sniper, causing him to drop the rifle. Yuki growled before his tails caused the man to burst into flames.

The sniper screamed in pain as his skin was burned.

Before the man could pass out from pain, Yuki threw him from the building and then hopped down, landing just as the man crashed into the sidewalk. The man with the grenades had recovered, but Yuki batted him into a building with a tail, causing the building to collapse over him. Yuki then turned to the sniper who was reaching for his gun. Yuki's back curled inward and his tails stretched, slamming into the man's back over and over again. The fox mage had completely lost his normal self as apparent by the fierce look in his eyes. This was the rage of the kitsune.

* * *

Cantrelle and Levy had been walking to the hotel, though Cantrelle's eyes had been back on the buildings. She couldn't tell what was going on, but she saw when Adrian landed on a building and smiled. She admired him and Sharon a lot and had been having so much fun with them. She got to go on missions sometimes and everything. He was definitely her big brother, even if not by blood. She was sure her time in the guild would never be boring, now. She couldn't wait to train with them again like Adrian had promised.

Levy noticed the young girl staring up at Adrian and smiled. It seemed like a sweet relationship to her.

Cantrelle watched up until she saw Adrian fall from the building, falling behind it out of sight. She froze when this happened and her eyes widened and when she heard Sharon's screams. She knew something was wrong. Her eyes became glossed with tears of worry and she turned to run back towards where Adrian had fallen. "Adrian!" she cried, wondering what could have happened. Had he been shot by the gun magic?

Levy wanted to stop Cantrelle, but she, too, knew something was wrong.

"What happened?" Wendy's voice sounded from behind them and Levy looked over her shoulder to see the Sky mages and Carla running towards them.

"Adrian got hurt!" Cantrelle yelled, turning around for only a second before continuing to run towards the town.

"Do you think you two can do something?" Levy asked as they followed Cantrelle.

"We're... We're almost out of magic..." Sara said in a tiny voice. What had happened to make Sharon's voice be so loud?

* * *

"Yuki!" Lucy called, running over to the mage as he continued to beat the sniper into the ground. "I think that's enough!" she added, worry in her voice. The boy didn't seem to be able to hear her.

Sharon watched as the man that she had been fighting fell from her magic and rolled off the building, motionless on the ground below. She jumped down and ran over to Lucy and Yuki. "Hey!" she snapped through her tears, seeing that Yuki was killing the man. "We don't kill people, Yuki!" she said, stopping in front of him. She was still trembling and crying. She ignored the worried look from Lucy.

"YUKI-KUN!" Sara's voice sounded. She was running towards them, Wendy, Carla, Levy and Cantrelle with them. The group had decided to meet up with the others before finding Adrian when Sara saw the condition that Yuki was in. She ran over to Yuki and grabbed one fiery tail, wincing as the flames burned her. She couldn't remember ever seeing him this out of control. She wasn't sure what to do or if her normal methods would even work.

However, her voice and touch got through and the flames began to reside. Yuki blinked, looked at the man, to Sara and then the pain in his head hit him. The last thing he managed to see was the sky as he fell back.

Sara caught him and fell to her knees. "What happened?" she asked.

Sharon instantly burst into horrid sobs at the question and even though she stammered in attempt to answer, nothing came out. She tried to wipe her tears away unsuccessfully.

"Adrian... I think he got shot..." Lucy said in a small voice, not really wanting to be the one to say anything but realizing that she was the only one who could.

"WE HAVE TO CHECK ON HIM!" Cantrelle screeched, tears flooding her eyes. "What are we doing?" she demanded, her hands clenching into fists.

Sara nodded, lifting Yuki onto her back. He was a bit too heavy for her, but she couldn't leave him alone. At the same time, she was pretty sure Adrian was in worse danger. Yuki's skin was burning, but her breathing was pretty even. Besides, he sometimes passed out when he trained too much; it wasn't the first time she had seen him faint, even if it was the first time she had seen him lose control so much.

* * *

The group of mages ran around the building that Adrian had fallen from to see that he was there, but his body was coated in flowers. He didn't appear to be breathing, either.

"ADRIAN!" Sharon and Cantrelle screamed in unison, both running up to him and crouching on either side of him. They could see that his pale hair was stained with blood, as well as his bare shoulder and most of his right side. By the looks of where there was the most blood, it appeared that he had been shot in the shoulder and in the head. He was not breathing and his eyes were closed.

"God, no..." Sharon whimpered out, tears streaming down her face as she grabbed one of his hands, the one that he wore his bracelet on, the one that she assumed was made by his mom. She held his hand with both of hers and attempted to feel for a pulse, searching for any sign that he could be living. There was nothing. "Please... No..." she coughed out.

"Adrian..." Cantrelle cried softly, placing her hands on his back; his body seemed a bit colder than usual, though it still held some of the warmth that she was so accustomed to.

Wendy and Sara walked over, Sara gently placing Yuki in the grass. They both examined him and their faces dropped, tears filling their own eyes.

Lucy silently walked over to Sharon and sat down beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and hugging her gently. She didn't know what to say. It always seemed so simple to say something like "I'm sorry" during something like this.

Levy and Wendy walked a bit closer, sympathy in Carla's eyes and tears in Levy's.

"Please... Do something..." Sharon whispered helplessly. She had only known Adrian for a few months, but even so, she was pretty sure she was closer to him than anyone else in the guild. She knew there was nothing that could be done, though. It still didn't stop her from wanting to plea to nothing at all that time could be reversed.

"Yeah, you two can heal people..." Cantrelle said in a soft voice. "Surely something can be done..."

Sara shook her head, pretty sure she wouldn't be able to speak even if she could find the words to admit that she couldn't do anything for him.

There was silent between the mages after that, apart from the soft sniffles and whimpers that would sound from them occasionally. Sharon reminded Sara that Yuki needed to be healed, too and that there was no sense in prolonging that and Sara healed the wound on the back of his head. After that, there was silence again.

Minutes ticked by like hours and Sharon found herself wondering why the sun wouldn't set. Then again, why did it matter? She wouldn't be able to sleep... Hell... She probably wouldn't be able to sleep for weeks. This was supposed to be a vacation for them, but now it would be remembered as one of the worst days of her life. Letting out a small gasp that was an attempt at fighting the tears, she brought Adrian's hand to her chest and held it. She wasn't sure why she was doing this, but for some reason, it made sense.

Cantelle had fallen over, lying on Adrian's back and crying. Maybe if she was stronger, she would know some kind of healing song; maybe she would have been able to save him, she thought. It was too late now, though.

No one moved until the grass around them that was behind the building began to turn a dead golden in color and then fade even further to a blackened brown color. All of the mages began to look around, watching as the decay spread from the grass back to the trees that lined Sunflower Village, decaying them as well.

Sharon watched, clinging to Adrian's hand. She knew that he could sustain nature around him, but would nature die with him...? It seemed a bit logical... But not really, because nature could sustain itself without a nature mage... She didn't move until she felt Adrian's hand twitch. She jumped with surprise when she saw that the flowers on his body had disappeared. The land around them was thoroughly decayed, though. "Adrian...?" she spoke in a small voice.

Cantrelle was watching with hopeful eyes as Adrian's entire body twitched back to life. "He's... He's alive...?" she asked in a small voice, not wanting to get her hopes up.

"Can.. Can he pull energy from nature to give himself life?" Wendy asked, looking at how badly decayed the land was.

Adrian's eyes fluttered open, though they lacked a lot of shine in them. He winced, his brows furrowed into a tight look of pain and he let out a small, hoarse groan.

"Adrian...?" Sharon asked in a small voice, not letting go of his hand. Immortality? That didn't seem likely at all. How many mages had mastered immortality? It wasn't complete immortality if he pulled life from nature, but still.

Adrian's eye flashed up to her and his hand twitched again. The spell worked on himself. How odd... Wasn't that... Wrong? Well... He was alive and he was pretty sure that that hadn't been the case... If not from the way he felt by having to struggle to stay in reality, by the looks of those around him. He needed to explain, but the pain and stiffness that overcome his body made him unable to do so at that moment.

"Adrian didn't die!" Cantrelle screeched, hugging him tightly, crying into his back. She wasn't going to question the spell at all. She was just happy that he hadn't died.

Wendy and Sara watched with a mix of relief and confusion. He had definitely been dead for a short period of time, but how? They also noted that he didn't seem to be bleeding anymore, meaning that he had healed his own wounds in the process.

Adrian smiled weakly when he heard Cantrelle's voice, but it took him minutes before he could find his voice. "I... I think I need to explain my spell..." he said. He then attempted to roll over but realized that Cantrelle wasn't moving and Sharon still had his hand, so he stayed where he was in began to talk in a low voice, as to not strain himself. "My spell... I don't really have a name for it because this is only the third time that I have ever used it and I don't anticipate using it much at all..." he started. "It pulls the life from myself and nature to revive someone from near-death or death. The spell won't work if they've been dead for a while, though. I'd assume more than ten minutes would be too much. It takes the life from nature as well as much of my life to do it... In reviving myself with it, especially from such a fatal wound, I have basically given myself an extension on a life that will not last even half as long as most..."

Sharon's eyes widened at the explanation. However, even though it wasn't a good thing that Adrian wasn't guaranteed a full life now, she couldn't help but to feel relieved that he was alive. She had questions flooding through her brain, though. How could he master a spell like that, still? And who had he saved before?

"Where did you learn a healing spell like that, Adrian-san?" Wendy asked in a small voice.

"Years of spending most of my time alone has led to much time for meditation and training..." Adrian explained with a small smile. "But to be quite honest, it was a spell that was learned on a whim," he said. "I met a brother and sister... The brother who had lost his arm and eye in a battle. They were both in really bad health, the brother more so than the sister and I panicked because I was young and didn't really know... how to handle something like that... I decided that I could pull magic from nature just as I could put magic into nature and I healed him, as well as going with him to Magnolia to find a doctor that could give him a false arm..."

"How do you know that it shortens your life?" Cantrelle asked.

"I met a healing mage during some travels around Magnolia. She was a really rude about everything, but she could sense some of my magic, it seemed, and she informed me after a small talk that magic like that came with a grave price. She then yelled at me and kicked me out of her house, saying something about how much she hated humans," Adrian said, frowning slightly.

Wendy's eyes widened and the Fairy Tail mages exchanged glances when Adrian finished his description of the woman he had met.

"What?" Sharon asked, noticing how they exchanged glances.

"I'm pretty sure that the mage he met was Porlyusica," Lucy explained.

"Yeah, she doesn't like humans very much," Levy said with a small laugh.

"But she would know about healing magic, I think..." Wendy added, her voice holding a tone of sadness because even though it was a powerful spell

Feeling some of his energy return and feeling Cantrelle lift from his back, Adrian struggled to set up, smiling when Cantrelle and Sharon assisted him. "Don't worry about it," he said, smiling at Wendy when he realized that she was sad about the fact of him losing part of his life. "I understand the consequences and I will avoid using the magic whenever I can." His eyes then landed on Yuki. "Is Yuki-kun okay?" he asked, his eyes widening.

Sara nodded, running his fingers through the fur around one of Yuki's ears. "He's fine... He lost control and I think he probably expelled too much magic and emotion... He should probably be awake by tomorrow, at the latest..." she explained. She knew that he usually passed out when he over-exerted himself in such a form and usually he wasn't unconscious for the entire day, but she assumed that he may be, since he had went to greater lengths than before.

After a few more moments of sitting around, the mages decided that it was good to head back to the hotel, so Cantrelle, Lucy and Sharon helped to support Adrian, who did not have enough energy to walk on his own, and Sara carried Yuki with a bit of help from Carla and they headed back to the guild, deciding to address the town's destruction on the next day.

* * *

_With Azura, Fame, Monk, Coyote and Nezuko_...

The group of mages that consisted of Azura, Fame, Monk, Coyote, Nezuko, Artemis, Nikko, Happy, Natsu, Gray, Juvia and Lyon emerged from the sewers, Azura with a caravan in tow. The mages had been sent on the same mission, though neither parties had been aware of this and they had been given the job of recovering a stolen caravan that was supposed to go to Nadeshiko for the Nightshade Festival from a group of bandits in the sewers. It had been an easy job. However, Azura knew that they weren't going to let the Fairy Tail mages leave without leaving a mark on them, so she left the caravan in such a place that it was hidden behind boxes. She then turned to the fairies once they were in the center of town.

Nezuko, on the other hand, snuck off when she realized what was going on. She was fully aware of what was going to happen when Azura hid the caravan away, so she fell behind and then decided to set with the caravan. If the mages destroyed the town, which the undoubtedly would, at least she would be able to protect the caravan so they wouldn't fail the mission.

"Hey, fairies. How about we fight, just to see who's stronger?" Azura asked, placing a hand on her hip, her eyes narrowing in a challenging manner. She was already getting pumped up just from the thought of being able to fight Juvia. She hated girls like that; girls that were so clingy that they would get jealous at every little thing that the person they liked did. She would give her a good beating.

"'Ey, flamer, I think I can take you," Fame said, cracking his knuckles and then flipping his hair out of his eyes.

"Don't call me that!" Natsu snapped, though he had a determined smirk on his face, ready to fight as well.

"Tch. I'll be your opponent, slushie," Coyote said, stepping in front of Gray and glaring when he noticed that the man had already stripped down to his navy blue boxers.

"Bring it!" Gray said, grinning, his fists already starting to become icy.

"Then looks like I get to fight you," Monk said, grinning at Lyon.

"That's fine with me," Lyon said, returning Monk's grin with a small smile.

The mages split from each other after that, giving themselves room to fight. Fame darted forward, his body already sparking and threw a punch at Natsu. After Natsu dodged the first attack and began to throw his own quick punches, Fame and the fire dragon slayer fell into a rhythm of punching, dodging and kicking. This pattern continued until Natsu landed a punch on Fame's face, stumbling the mage.

Natsu then proceeded to kick Fame as hard as he could, blasting the man backwards into a building.

Fame's body began to crackle even more, the lightning popping as he landed on the roof of a building, the building wobbling as it resisted the power from the mage. He swiped the blood away from the corner of his mouth, coughed and gained his composure. His body burst into lightning and he smirked as Natsu watched him with a curious look. He then brought his arms forward, his palms held out towards Natsu. "Lightning Magic: Alternative Lightning!" he called, shooting out a beam of blue lightning at Natsu.

Natsu jumped up into the air to dodge. As he hovered above Fame for a second or so, he called out "Fire Dragon's Claw!" and attempted to slam a fiery leg over Fame.

Fame dodged with relative ease and Natsu's leg crashed into the building instead and destroyed the roof of it. Fame watched with narrowed eyes. Damn. They had already caused some destruction. Oh, well. They were already at fault. Might as well go all out. "Lightning Magic: Metal Lightning!" he growled as lightning surged from his body and he quickly twisted around and short for Natsu, who was now on the ground. Fame's fist collided with Natsu's head and the boys slid back, destroying the ground around them, both of their bodies sparking.

Natsu continued to slide back until he was a good distance away from Fame. "Heh. I'm getting pretty fired up!" he commented with a wide grin on his face. He then brought his hands up in front of his face as his stomach and cheeks began to swell. "Fire Dragon's Roar!" he bellowed as he shot flames out at his opponent.

Fame jumped in the air, but realized that he couldn't dodge. He swung his arms out and shouted "Lightning Magic: Indie Lightning" as a large horizontal blast of lightning crashed into the flames that were near the lightning mage, blasting them back, scarring the earth and making the nearest building shake. When the flames faded, Fame ran towards Natsu, nimbly dodging the fiery fist of the dragon slayer. He then swung around and kicked Natsu in the side with a crackling leg, blasting him into the building that was shaking before and causing it to crumble. He could see a woman behind it staring angrily at them. He flashed her a charming smile of apology which soon faded when she wasn't fazed by it.

Natsu grinned, seeing an opening. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" he growled as he slammed his fist into Fame, blasting the griffin over the woman's head and into the water that surrounded three of the four sides of the city. The water sparked vividly as Fame's magic pulsed through it, causing a few fish to float up, charred from his magic.

Even though Happy wasn't helping with the battle and had been sitting with the other two Exceeds, he dashed for the water when it started sparking, grabbing one of the charred fish. "FISH!" he cheered, sticking one of the fish into his mouth.

Fame pulled himself out of the water and shook his head. He was fried and every part of his body ached. What a cheap finishing move! That was the downside to charging himself with lightning and somehow, it always ended up getting to him.

Meanwhile... Coyote and Gray were also fighting. Gray jumped back and placed his hands on the ground, calling out, "Ice Make: Floor!" as the ground around him began to freeze.

"Animal Seith: Polar Bear!" Coyote shouted in response, some of his tattoos lighting up as he called on one of the souls in his collection that allowed him to walk on ice and resist ice magic a bit more. He then called upon his animals of strength, the gorilla and the rhino, and charged forward, slamming his fist into Gray's face and sending him flying backwards, crashing into the fountain that was located in the middle of the town, destroying it.

Gray recovered fairly quickly, though he was now soaked and his hair fell over into his eyes just a bit. "Ice Make: Lance!" he called, throwing his hands forward to send a spear of ice out at Coyote.

Coyote called upon the soul of the Cheetah in order to gain the speed to dodge the attack. He then charged forward, attempting to punch Gray in the face again, but he dodged.

Gray ducked under Coyote's arm and returned the punch by sending his own fist crashing into Coyote's face and then repeating the process, punching Coyote over and over again.

Coyote took the hits until he saw an opening, bringing his knee up into Gray's stomach, throwing him into the air. He then punched him as hard as he could in the stomach.

When Gray came back down, he landed on his feet, barely, stumbling and coughing up drops of blood. "Ice Make: Hammer!" he called, crashing an icy hammer over Coyote's head and shoulders, bashing him into the ground, through the icy floor that was under them.

Coyote struggled to get back to his feet, and when he did, he swung his fists with all of the annoyance that he was feeling towards Gray for being so strong. His fist smashed into Gray's face and then his leg was brought into Gray's ribs, sending the ice mage flying into a building and creating a large hole in the building's wall. Coyote was breathing hard after the attack, but he was still able to stand. There was a scowl on his face and he was waiting for Gray to do something, but he didn't see the ice mage.

"LOVE RIVAL NUMBER TWO!" Juvia screeched at Azura when they were away from the other mages. Her eyes were cold and narrowed and there was a dark aura radiating from her. "Juvia will destroy you! Gray-sama's heart will only belong to Juvia!"

Azura laughed lightly. Juvia was nothing short of comical to the mage. There was no way that she could ever see Gray-or anyone for that matter-truly loving her. She was just too obsessive. Then again, maybe some guys were into that kind of thing. Anyway, this wasn't the time to make fun of the girl. She reached back and grabbed New Moon and Full Moon off of her back and dashed forward.

"Water Slicer!" Juvia called, sending a sharp slash of water out at Azura, her face still just as dark.

Azura used New Moon to slice through the blade of water and absorb it. However, she knew that it wouldn't do much good against the water mage, so she decided that she wouldn't redirect the attack. Instead, she just continued to charge and slashed at Juvia, who was surprisingly quick enough to dodge.

"Juvia will impress Gray-sama!" Juvia growled. She then shot her palm forward and sent out a quick blast of water that pushed Azura back, making her slide a few feet back. The water mage didn't let up on her attacks, though. "Water Cane!" she cried, shooting an arm of water and cracking it into Azura's side, throwing her into a nearby building, damaging yet another building in the town of Lotus.

Azura recovered, growling as a piece of the partially destroyed building landed on her head and bounced off. "Screw it..." she mumbled, putting her blades back on her back. The starry scales began to take over her body as she activated the lacrima inside of her. With that, she darted forward with magic surrounding both of her arms. "Lunar Dragon's Wings!" she called out as she slammed both of her arms into Juvia's body, smirking as the girl screamed in pain and was blasted backwards.

Juvia didn't manage to land on her feet and instead landed on her side and rolled back, letting out small coughs of pain. Once she skidded to a stop, she climbed to her feet and brushed off some of the shreds of clothe that fell from her dress, revealing parts of her pale skin. She was bruised, but still more than willing to fight. "Juvia will win!" she cried out. "Water Nebula!" With that, two columns of water began to spiral around Azura before crashing into her.

Azura let out a small cry of surprise as the water lifted her, whirred her around and then slammed her back into the building, demolishing it partially. Azura fell t to the ground. She climbed to her feet after a minute and let out a small laugh when she saw Juvia's eyes staring at her. "You know, you're a formidable opponent, even if you are frickin' psycho!" she called out.

"Juvia is not psycho!" Juvia snapped in response. "Water Lock!" She called, attempting to trap Azura in an airless dome of water.

Azura managed to dodge and launch herself high into the sky before landing a drop-kicking Juvia was shouting "Lunar Dragon's Claw!"

Juvia let out another scream as pain pulsed through her body as it hit the ground. However, she still had some fight in her as she coated her fist with water and twisted around, landing a punch on Azura's face.

Azura took the punch and returned it, starting a series of punches between the two mages until Juvia managed to push Azura off of her and climb to her feet, her face bruised, blood running from both corners of her mouth. "JUVIA WILL DEFEAT LOVE RIVAL NUMBER TWO!"

Meanwhile... Monk and Lyon were fighting and partially destroying the town as well. Monk started by activating his fighter's aura and dashing for Lyon. Monk, his magic consisting of physical combat and support magic, was highly skilled with physical combat and as Lyon hopped into the air to dodge, he slid under him and jumped into the air, elbowing him in the back of the head and then kicking him as he fell.

Lyon let out a cough of surprise when he was hit in the back. As soon as he fell, he rolled over, trying to fight the lightheaded feeling that was trying to overwhelm him. He held out his hand and called out "Ice Make: Eagle!" sending a flurry of mint green eagles out at Monk, who was just about to land.

Lyon's magic was too fast for Monk to dodge the first time. He winced as he was pelted with eagle after eagle, flying back into the air. He hadn't fully recovered when he noticed that Lyon was in front of him, an icy fist readied. Monk twisted in air to dodge the fist and then grabbed Lyon by the arm, kicking him as hard as he could in the ribs, flinging him into a building in the process. Monk smirked as the building shook, barely able to hold up to his strength. "I'm the hardest fist in Fiore! You only think you can beat me, Mr. Icy!" he taunted, landing on the ground and watching as Lyon climbed to his feet.

"You are a physical mage... I see..." Lyon said in a calm voice, despite the fact that he was bruised and his clothing was ripped. His eye twitched and in an instant, he pulled off his shirt, though he left his pants on. "It will be easy to avoid you if that is the case!" With that, minty magic circles appeared and a pair of icy wings burst from his back. He flapped them and took to the skies, flying to what he thought would be out of Monk's reach. "Maybe if I can beat you down enough, I can win the affection of my sweet Juvia-chan!" he called. With that, he launched another series of Ice Make: Eagles at Monk.

Monk dodged the eagles by hopping onto the roof of the building that he had flung Lyon into. When he noticed that the eagles were following him, he turned around and swung his arm in fairly successful attempt to destroy most of them. He brought his other arm up to protect his face from the remaining eagles. Once the attack was over, Monk turned to Lyon. "You know, if Juvia is battling Azura, she's barely gonna have time to breath, much less worry with what you're doing!"

Lyon's eye twitched in anger at Monk's comment and cried out "Ice Make: Snow Dragon!", throwing his hands out as an icy dragon began to rush towards Monk. "I believe in Juvia-chan's strength and I'm sure that Azura will be the one in trouble during the battle!"

Monk dodged the dragon's mouth and landed on top of it, skillfully running up it and punching Lyon square in the jaw, knocking him backwards. Just before the serpent disappeared, Monk jumped into the air. "I hope you're not underestimating my guild when you say that!" With that, both of his legs came crashing into Lyon's chest. When the mage was almost on the ground, his icy wings now gone, Monk flipped around and slammed his fist into Lyon's face, smirking as he crashed into the ground.

Lyon let out a pained groan and wiped at the blood that was dripping from the corners of his mouth. He pulled himself to his feet, his face now swollen, his chest badly bruised. He stumbled forward, determined to stay on his feet.

However, he didn't really have to worry about anything, and neither did the other mages, as the guards of the city were rushing for them, yelling to get the ones who were destroying the village.

"Natsu! I think we need to go!" Happy yelled, flying to Natsu, who was currently offering a hand down to a disgruntled Fame, who was ignoring him. Natsu heard the cries of the guards and his eyes widened. "Yeah, I think so, Happy!" he said, grinning. He then turned to all of the Silver Griffin mages, save for Nezuko and continued to grin. "It was really fun! I was getting really fired up before Sparky fell in the water!"

"Don't call me that, asshole!" Fame snapped, climbing to his feet. He liked being called the name that he had given himself and that was all, really.

Natsu grinned at him.

Gray joined up with Natsu and sighed. "It's a shame we didn't get to finish the fight, animal bastard," he said to Coyote, who was already scowling at him. Gray had recently returned from the house that he had crashed through, having been scolded by the shopkeepers inside.

"Tch," Coyote only snorted in response. He felt as if he had won the fight with no questions asked, but he didn't have time to say that. They needed to get out of town, too.

"Juvia will defeat Love Rival Number Two!" Juvia snarled at Azura before running towards Gray, Natsu and Happy, who were already running away. "Wait for Juvia, Gray-sama!" she called, bursting into a weak run.

Lyon looked around the partially destroyed town and let out a small sigh. "Ooba-sama is not going to be happy about this," he said, his eyes narrowing. Sure, it was a three guild effort, but he was the only mage from Lamia Scale and as such, a lot of the anger was going to fall on him. "Until next time, griffin," he said to Monk, before turning and running to catch up to his friends.

"How do you feel about what you did the town?" Nezuko asked, appearing with the caravan in tow, snorting at how injured the mages were. Their faces were swollen and Fame was covered in burns, while the others were covered in bruises.

"I think we need to get out of here," Fame said, tossing his hair of his face.

"No telling what Winter is gonna do to us," Nezuko said. She knew that the punishment would fall on her as well because she should have stopped them if she didn't want to fight, and she hadn't.

"Jayce!" the voice of a woman called before they could communicate anymore. Fame froze while the others look around curiously.

"Are they talking to us?" Monk asked, watching as a blond haired woman that looked to be in her early forties ran towards them, a smile on her face.

"Uggggh..." Fame groaned, his eye twitching angrily.

"What's wrong with you?" Azura asked curiously.

The woman stopped in front of them. "I watched the fight from the living-room window... I must say that you and your friends are wonderfully strong, Jayce," the woman said, beaming up at Fame. "These are your friends, right? You all should come back to the house until these guards stop looking for you."

"That may be a good idea, woman who I don't know," Monk said, grinning. He was pretty sure it was a relative of Fame, maybe his mother.

* * *

"So your real name is Jayce, huh?" Azura asked as they walked into a relatively small home that was next to the ocean and the harbor.

"Yeah," Fame sighed, still annoyed.

"Oh, why don't you like your name, Jayce? I think it is a beautiful name for a beautiful son," the woman questioned Fame as she locked the door and walked around, closing the blinds so that no one could see inside.

Monk and Azura snickered at the woman's words.

"And you should introduce me to your friends, but after I get tea!" the woman said. She then turned to the griffins. "Please, call me Mrs. Ivy. I'm Jayce's mother. His father is away at sea right now, but you should get to meet his cousin when he gets out of the shower!" With that, she disappeared beyond a door frame.

Fame's eyes dropped to the ground, hiding the blush that was on his face. He did not like his teammates being in his childhood home. Too personal. Way too personal.

"Do you still live here, Jayce?" Monk asked, purposely using his real name just to try to get to him. He was looking around at the walls, which were decorated with family portraits and photos, some of with a white haired boy in the picture as well.

"Don't even try that, Monk," Fame growled, though his voice was a bit softer than usual. He knew that his mother would scold him if he held his normal personality.

"Oh, c'mon, what was it that your mom said? Didn't she call you beautiful or something?" Monk teased, grinning at Fame.

"Shut up, bastard!" Fame retorted, instantly freezing up at his mom's voice.

"Jayce, watch your language, dear," Mrs. Ivy scolded, walking into the room. "And where are your manners? Your friends need to set down. I'm preparing some ice bags for those wounds and I've got some nice tea that infused with pain medication," she said. "Now, show some manners! Introduce them to me and let them rest!"

"Yes, ma'am," Fame said in a weak voice. "Erm, this is Azura, Monk, Coyote and Nezuko, and erm Artemis," he explained, pointing to each person as he said their names.

"Oh, and Nikko-chan's gotten so big!" Mrs. Ivy said, finally noticing Nikko, who was resting in Fame's hood. She grabbed the cat and snuggled him against her bosom. "I'm so happy that you raised him well!"

"Sit down, you guys," Fame said, his voice still a hell of a lot meeker than it normally was.

"Okay! Nice to meet you, Mrs. Ivy!" Azura said, plopping down on one of the over-stuffed sofas, Artemis in her lap.

"Yeah, nice to meet you!" Artemis said, waving happily.

"Thanks for having us," Nezuko said, sitting beside Azura.

Coyote snorted and sat on the couch, leaning back.

"Pleasure to meet the family of a teammate!" Monk said, plopping down on the opposite end of the couch from Coyote.

"What wonderful friends!" Mrs. Ivy said, clapping her hands together and disappearing into the kitchen, still holding Nikko.

"Your mom is nice, Fame," Azura said. "I can't believe she doesn't think we're hoodlums or something," she said.

"Yeah... She watched the fight and everything," Nezuko agreed. Still she didn't really like the family environment and was ready to get out of the house. However, Mrs. Ivy had the right idea by hiding them from the guards.

Mrs. Ivy returned and handed each of the mages a cup of tea and an ice pack. "Make sure to put that on your faces. If you need me to help, I can," she said, smiling brightly as she sat down in a huge armchair, huggling Nikko, who she had rocked to sleep.

"Mom, we're really not kids, you know," Fame said, sitting down in between Monk and Coyote and letting out a sigh.

"Yes, but they're your friends and I'm going to treat them like kids. Remember, you are my child and I'll always see you as a kid," she explained. "So... If any of you need anything, feel free to tell me, okay?" she said, her golden eyes landing on each of the mages.

Before they could respond to her, a boy came walking down the stairs that were in the living room, running his fingers through his white hair that was long and styled similarly to Fame's, but his bangs curled into a small puff on the end, making his hair resemble a cloud on the ends. When he looked up, one could see that his eyes were vividly green with surprisingly dark lashes. They looked bored until his eyes landed on the mages that were in the room. He was around average height, about 5'9'' or so and at that moment, was shirtless, sporting a six pack and a good amount of muscles. Apart from the lack of shirt, which was probably one of the clothes that were draped over over his shoulder. A silver chain hung around his neck and there was a silver chain bracelet with some kind of techy-looking chip hanging on it around his right wrist. He was dressed in gray pants that fit a little loosely around the legs and white socks.

He arched a brow when he saw Fame and then began to grin. "Jay, what's up? I haven't seen you in years, bro!" he said, jumping over the stair railing and walking over to Fame, who was standing with a slight smile on his face.

"Same goes, Blaine... What have you been up to?" he asked. "And why the hell are you showering in my house?" he added, flipping his hair out of his eyes.

"Hey, Fame, if this your cousin, he's a hell of a lot hotter than you!" Azura said, grinning as she stood, looking Blaine up and down, as if taking in his appearance.

"Fame?" Blaine asked, snorting as his lips twitched into a small smile. "Is that what you call yourself? How frickin' lame are you?" he asked, laughter in his voice.

"Piss off, both of you..." Fame growled, his eyes darkening.

"Jayce, watch your mouth, once again, son!" Mrs. Ivy scolded. "And be nice to your cousin. He's been away from Lotus for about five years. You need to be nice. You were such good friends when you were younger!" She then cleared her throat. "And I hope you don't kiss girls with that filthy mouth, with the way you just spoke to her, by the way!"

Fame's face turned beet red, which made both Azura and Blaine laugh.

Blaine pulled one of the clothes from his shoulder and pulled it on over his head, dawning a black shirt with white writing that said "Wicked" in bold print. He then placed one of his hands on his hip and arched a brow. "So... You still a member of Silver Griffin?" he asked.

"Yep," Fame responded, though he had this permanent scowl on his face. He was hating this so much. He just wanted to get out of the house, but he didn't know if guards were still looking for them so he didn't do anything. He just sat back down and let out a sigh, his head falling back on the couch.

"How you doin', buddy?" Monk asked, patting Fame on the shoulder. He could tell that he was having a really hard time with this and it amused him. Fame was normally fairly collected and seeing him blush and try to show manners was a riot for Monk.

"You two don't talk much," Mrs. Ivy pointed out to Nezuko and Coyote, who hadn't really said much at all.

"Don't have any reason to," Coyote responded bluntly. He really wasn't one for the family environment either, and apart from the occasional snort he would let out at Fame's misery, he wasn't being social.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Nezuko said, trying her best to put on a nice smile.

The day began to pass on after that, Blaine taking a seat in front of the couch at the table, facing Fame, Coyote and Monk and Mrs. Ivy talking to them about the guild and their missions, enjoying hearing about her son and his friends.

When night fell, Mrs. Ivy walked outside for a moment and after she saw that there were still some guards patrolling around, she came back in and sighed. "I'm sure that they will give up by tomorrow," she said as she walked back into the living room. "Why don't I cook dinner and you can just stay here for the night? the ladies can have Fame's room and the guest bedrooms and you guys can just sleep out here. I'll get lots of bedrolls and move the furniture so it will be like a sleep-over."

* * *

That night, Mrs. Ivy had gone to bed and all of the mages were sitting in the living room of Fame's house, after arguments about how everyone was going to sleep, Azura eventually succeeding in getting to stay in Fame's room, much to his dismay. He decided that his torture would be over soon enough, so he gritted and bared it.

"So... Do you use magic?" Azura asked Blaine curiously after they had run out of things to talk about.

"Yep. I use Robot magic... I can turn myself into a robot, in terms of skin and I can summon up some robots," Blaine said. With that, a silver magic circle appeared and a small, round orb came out, its bright green eye scanning the area. "Tracker robot," he explained simply.

"Hmph... Your dad help you learn that?" Fame asked, tossing his hair out of his eyes.

"Yep," Blaine responded. "Speaking of magic, is your guild open to mages?"

"Yeah, but why the hell would you want to join a guild? You told me that I was lame for wanting to join, didn't you?" Fame asked, glaring at him since he was contradicting his words.

"No, I told you that you were lame for wanting to change your name and become jaded," Blaine responded bluntly. Before Fame could snap at him, he changed the subject. "Anyway, I need money, big time. I'm about tired of having to find food in forests and hunt it and such," he said.

"So, we're getting a new mage?" Monk asked. "You should fight me to show us how strong you are. I mean, you can't stand up to us, but it would be nice to see."

Blaine shrugged. "I'm not fighting in my uncle's house. Maybe later, when we get out of this town, since it seems like the guards are out to get you guys," he said.

"Fine, I'll hold you to that," Monk said.

"I think our guild could use some more cute guy like you," Azura said, winking playfully at Blaine. "Especially with those eyes," she added.

Blaine laughed. "I'm sure if they have girls half as sexy as you, then I'm set when it comes to eye candy, Azu," he said, smirking.

"Ugghhhh..." Fame groaned. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to have an aneurysm before this week is up if you're joining Silver Griffin..."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Looonnnnng chapter with lots of emotions attempted in it. X_X Hope you enjoyed this. I wrote a good bit of it today in biology, which is bad, because I didn't pay attention to lecture, but I needed my laptop, which is a tool of mass distraction. :)

Why did I introduce a new character in this chapter even though I just said Silver Griffin wasn't taking new members? One of the people who is the creator of an OC that was supposed to be paired with a canon character decided to change that pairing and so... Blaine was made to fulfill that role, because it's easier for me to just communicate with creators and pick the perfect match when I only need a couple of characters than it is for me to accept characters until I get the perfect match. Hope you like Blaine. I haven't quite got into the swing with his character, as I always have a slow start with characters. Anyway, he'll be around, now. :)

**Review Responses:**

Thank you all so much for the reviews! I can't believe I've reached over 300 reviews! That's amazing. This story has reached all of my goals for it, apart from completing it. :)

**zeganon - **I know it does, but a lot about the new guild will seem sort of dark, but they aren't going to be dark. :) Anyway, I love the location of it, too. The mages will be able to be as reckless as they wanna be without getting scolded by the town!

**shadowssj12 - **I'm so sorry that you're havng a hard time. X_X Just pace yourself as much as you can, don't overwhelm yourself. :) Glad you've been enjoying the story. :)

**Gureifox - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the little introduction to the new guild so much. :) Your OCs will meet Raiyane eventually. :) And I'm sorry your real life is being busy. T^T

**LilTimy - **I understand being busy and I'm sorry that I have been posting chapters too much! I'm happy that you've been enjoying the new chapter and I hope that the new guild interests you. :)

**puffypuffin3 - **I can't wait to start the GMGs, either, personally. :) I've got so much to do in that arc that it's going to be awesome. Not to mention I get to test out most of the new characters. XD I'm almost done with this arc, now. Unfortunately, I am now going to be swamped with math studying as I have a Calculus B exam next week and I understand about 2% of the things we're learning. T^T I'ma die. X_X

I prefer NaLi as well but I know most of FF is not, so... Meh... It's not gonna be a big part at all. Just a couple of conversations between Lucy and Sharon and that's all. I try my best with romance. I like fluff, but I honestly don't like the hardcore, more than snuggling and kissing, though. I scene for me will always cut out when it heats up because I just don't like writing it. Many of the new guild members will appear in the GMGs. I dunno if I already answered that.

**Nicky Azure - **The ideas are unique and sometimes random as my friend and fiance are helping me a lot with this. They feed me a lot of crazy ideas. So basically their doing a lot of the comedy and a good bit of the serious plot stuff and I'm doing romance and fun plot, as well as tidying up the plots so that all of the OCs fit well. :) I've already gotten so much planning done for it because we spend our meals and walks to class talking about it. XD And I spend biology and literature planning instead of listening to lecture. :| I've got pretty much all of Silver Griffin apart from the final battle and the arcs that will follow planned out, so I don't plan it as much anymore. :)

**DraXXter - **I'm happy that you like the new guild and happy that you don't think that they are too stand-offish as guild masters. I think the new guild is going to be a lot of fun to write about! :)

**MyDearWatson - **I'm really happy that you like the new guild so much! My friend and fiance suggested it being in a forest(friend) or swamp(fiance) and I combined it. My fiance also wanted the guildhall to be made of bones while my friend wanted the guildhall to be made in a tree. So... Bone/wood/scientific guild hall... In a tree. ^^;

**dreadburner94 - **I'm happy that you like the new guilds and I think that all of the mages will love their guild once they warm up to it and get used to the guild masters and skeletons and golems manning the guild hall. I'm really happy that you enjoyed the chapter before that.

**Link - **I'm happy that you enjoyed the beginning! And I'm sorry for not specifying that before, but I hadn't actually planned the guild hall. My friend and fiance gave me the idea. :) I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter before that. :)

**FairyTailWolf6 - **I'm glad that you like the new guild so much! I adore OC fics and so that's what I usually read and write. :) I'm really happy that you enjoyed the chapter with Kai/Marionette. :D

**La Maitresse' Dame - **I'm happy that you liked the previous chapter so much and I can definitely do something like that. That's kind of what I saw her doing anyway, just until she figures out what's going on in her head. :)

**lordsoftheRoses - **I feel that making every character someone that a reader can love is something that is hard for OC fics and it's really hard to make every character relatable or likable and it's hard to delve into personality, down to quirks, and I practice a lot with it. :)

**Hiragami Kotone - **I'm really happy that you liked the chapter! I'm glad I did good with Hikari~ :)


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